Health Insurance From Thai Banks

[GooEng]

i have just heard that the banks in thailand offer some sort of health insurance options - over the counter type deals.

a guy i work with in saudi tells me his GF in phuket has some sort of policy bought from Bangkok Bank - health and accident insurance.

does anyone know anything about these policies? are they thai only? costs/benefit? etc..

[Mario2008]

Moved to insurence forum

[drdaveperry]

Moved to insurence forum

Exactly where is the "insurence forum"?

[Lite Beer]

Moved to insurence forum

Exactly where is the "insurence forum"?

You are in it.

[drdaveperry]

Moved to insurence forum

Exactly where is the "insurence forum"?

You are in it.

Thank you. I am still getting accustomed to the British way of spelling. The American spelling is Insurance. Sorry for the confusion on my part.

[rgs2001uk]

If it is what I am thinking of, the answer is a complete waste of time.

Most of them are nothing more than a savings plan, with a bit of insurance thrown in, they are for the gullible and financially illiterate.

Some offer cheap insurance for about 7k per year.

Other cost depending on age say 15k for 20 years and and the end of term you will get 50k back, thats what appeals to the unwary, they see it as free money (yeah right when did you ever hear of anywhere giving you free money?).

Without further details its hard to give further advice.

I take it the g/f isnt working, if she was she would be covered by her employers insurance, but that opens up another can of worms.

From what I remember these are open to anyone (daft enough to purchase such a policy).

[GooEng]

If it is what I am thinking of, the answer is a complete waste of time.

Most of them are nothing more than a savings plan, with a bit of insurance thrown in, they are for the gullible and financially illiterate.

Some offer cheap insurance for about 7k per year.

Other cost depending on age say 15k for 20 years and and the end of term you will get 50k back, thats what appeals to the unwary, they see it as free money (yeah right when did you ever hear of anywhere giving you free money?).

Without further details its hard to give further advice.

I take it the g/f isnt working, if she was she would be covered by her employers insurance, but that opens up another can of worms.

From what I remember these are open to anyone (daft enough to purchase such a policy).

that's kinda what i expected.

it's a colleague here in saudi that mentioned it too me - incidentally at exactly the price you mentioned, 7k a year - he thought it was a comprehensive health/accident plan and i thought it sounded too good to be true .....

ho-hum ...

[canopus1969]

If it is what I am thinking of, the answer is a complete waste of time.

Most of them are nothing more than a savings plan, with a bit of insurance thrown in, they are for the gullible and financially illiterate.

Some offer cheap insurance for about 7k per year.

Other cost depending on age say 15k for 20 years and and the end of term you will get 50k back, thats what appeals to the unwary, they see it as free money (yeah right when did you ever hear of anywhere giving you free money?).

Without further details its hard to give further advice.

I take it the g/f isnt working, if she was she would be covered by her employers insurance, but that opens up another can of worms.

From what I remember these are open to anyone (daft enough to purchase such a policy).

that's kinda what i expected.

it's a colleague here in saudi that mentioned it too me - incidentally at exactly the price you mentioned, 7k a year - he thought it was a comprehensive health/accident plan and i thought it sounded too good to be true .....

ho-hum ...

Why use a Bank when there are qualified Brokers around ? For a good (and fully qualified) English speaking team try HERE

[samran]

An old thread which I did the sums

Yes, aimed at the financially stupid...no that would be kind. Just aimed at the stupid.

If you want insurance, buy health insurance - like you have. Bupa, Thai Health...etc. Feel blessed if you never have to use it.

If you want a savings plan, put it in the bank.

Never, ever, mix the two, as you'll lose money (ie negative real interest rate) and you won't have health coverage should you ever need it.

[patrickthailife]

Well bancassurance has been pretty common for a long long time now around the world. As you might guess from the name it's a mixture of banking and insurance, and usually takes the form of a retail/consumer bank acting as a sales outlet for an insurance company. Eg Kasikorn bank is now selling insurance products from Thai Life (the oldest Thai insurance company).

Sam is right insofar that these are not good savings plans - but that's not surprising as they are term-life -insurance policies comboned with health insurance, not savings plans. There are variations, but basically at the end of the term you get your money back (ie your health and life insurance is in effect free), and your nearest and dearest get the life insurance payout if you die during the term.

For Thai families or Farang/Thai families these can be very good plans. You can buy them through the banks or direct from the insurers.