You Are Close To 70/ Need New Health Insurance

[THAIPHUKET]

Moderators, I checked the insurance forum. I really want to address a larger forum of more diversified members with a greater chance of similar profiles to mine. So please let this run for a while here.

My problem

I am very well privately insured by a German insurance, expensive but worth it. Amount and life time is unlimited, involuntarily tested by an accident which cost about 1.2 million Euro. Thailand/ the world is covered. However, the policy is of temporary nature and not meant for people living permanently abroad. As I am planning to live here, give up German residency coverage would stop and cannot be transformed by that insurer into some other protective form.

Do you have an insurance,

which doesn't kick you out at age xyz

pays even long term treatment you may need closer to the end ?

[PattayaParent]

You seem to be starting from the misconception that insurance is there for the benefit of the insured, not for the profit of the company.

[THAIPHUKET]

You seem to be starting from the misconception that insurance is there for the benefit of the insured, not for the profit of the company.

anything of substance to add? You don't seem to know that insurance business is one of statistical likelihood and for a price you can insure anything. I can do the risk calculation. That's why I want this thread to run in a forum where not only people respond whose post inevitably contain=

the cheapest of the cheapest.

Don't you worry, I can pay for my risk, comfortably.

[chonabot]

How near am I ?

[samran]

This is a very interesting question to which I'd like to know the answer to as well.

Thinking out loud: I do wonder if part of the solution is maintaining some sort of coverage 'back home' (if possible) combined with some sort of Thailand focused insurance which includes fully paid repatriation/medical evacuation should it unfortunately ever be needed?

[Naam]

However, the policy is of temporary nature and not meant for people living permanently abroad. As I am planning to live here, give up German residency coverage would stop and cannot be transformed by that insurer into some other protective form.

did you talk to them? we had no problem extending our german private insurance when giving up residency. had a little tussle because we refused to pay and be covered by the (usual mandatory) "Pflegeversicherung" but otherwise transition was smooth as silk.

as far as premiums are concerned we even gained. bouncing between three different countries and homes -including our home in Germany- was an administrative load on the insurance company.

reason: surcharge foreign country residence of 50% kicked in after 2 months and for different countries different premiums were charged, id est i used to send them faxes "from x till y country z". when we sold our german home the company offered us a flat surcharge of 20%, valid for any country. we are fully covered and pay a pittance (€UR 4,017 p.a) for first class coverage. one of the reasons for the low premium is "early age entry". i'm in since 40 years, my wife since 32 years.

addendum: "repatriation/medical evacuation" is not included and i don't think that it is required as Thailand has top notch hospitals.

three years ago i went to Germany for a quadruple coronary and a single aorta bypass. my alternative was Phya Thai Hospital (spelling?) in BKK. wife ordered "we fly to Germany... PERIOD!

after surgery the well known surgeon and me had a little small talk and i mentioned that i was considering Phya Thai. his answer "i visited Phya Thai with colleagues a couple of years ago. they too would have done an excellent job. BUT then you couldn't claim that I did the job on you."

Edited December 22, 2011 by Naam

[Naam]

You seem to be starting from the misconception that insurance is there for the benefit of the insured, not for the profit of the company.

as far as i am concerned they didn't make a penny profit in 40 years. and i don't think this was balanced by the fact that during 32 years my wife never filed a claim.

[craigt3365]

Naam: your rates are darn good. You're very lucky.

[exeter]

All the Thai schemes I have seen kick you out at 80-85 and they are expensive and look like they will cover you for a specific amount which may not cover your situation.

When i got my travel Insurance from the UK earlier this year there is a question that keeps rearing up put in different ways from different companies and looks like their get out clause. The question revolves around "have you resided in the UK for the last 90 days or more?" " are you a UK resident?" I suspect that as I am here for most of the year I may not be covered and then there is the other question "Its a bit more than travel insurance if you are in a foreign country for that length of time. As we get older the more it goes up. It sounds like Naam has done well although we dont know what he gets and what he pays and everyone has their own limitations.

Personally I dont trust insurance companies, they are not there for my benefit I am a form of potential profit, so in the end we have to make a choice, I think I will probably put some cash in the bank every month for if I get a problem, if I dont then the money is there for others and hope to die in bed.

[astral]

I am insured with the American Express insurance.

http://www.worldwidehealthplan.com/

No time limits, and will insure you in any country.

As you have exisiting cover the will probably take you on "as is"

that means with out all the caveats for a new client.

They will want to see proof of your existing cover, but I guess that will not be a problem?

My premium is £3000 pa at age 65

A few years ago they paid out over £40,000 for my cancer treatment

without a murmur.

[Naam]

It sounds like Naam has done well although we dont know what he gets and what he pays and everyone has their own limitations.

my limitation is to have the cash available, prefinance the cost and then get reimbursed after 10-14 working days, id est not suitable for people who e.g. might face open heart surgery but don't have the liquidity to shell out 48,000 EURos. otherwise i'm free to select any hospital in any country and any medical top guru for treatment.

[THAIPHUKET]

Astral, seems you took the insurance out at "young" age, Amexco stops taking new applicants at 64.

Naam, will contact you by pm.

[nong38]

Naam you made a wise decision a long time ago and now all you have to do is hope they dont move the goalposts. One of the problems with insurance is having to pay for the service then claim it back off your insurance company and if the hospital insists you pay and then you have to reclaim, I think that would be a big problem for most expats out here. I heard last year of open heart surgery in Pitsanoluk costing 1.5m bts, how many of us have that sitting in an account here just in case? Not many I expect, in fact I think a great number have a small balance and as for health insurance my bet is also that lots have zero and hoping for the best.

[Naam]

Astral, seems you took the insurance out at "young" age, Amexco stops taking new applicants at 64.

Naam, will contact you by pm.

you are welcome to contact me.

[Naam]

Naam you made a wise decision a long time ago and now all you have to do is hope they dont move the goalposts.

to be honest, when i made the decision the jury was not convinced it was a wise one. in Germany private health insurance is ideal for a bachelor as far as premiums and coverage is concerned. however, the situation changes completely should that bachelor get married, have a bunch of children and the wife is not working the premiums will shoot up sky high as one has to pay per person whereas the various mandatory health insurances levy only a small surcharge no matter whether the family consists of husband and wife or an additional dozen children.

in my case it turned out only later that it was the right decision because during my professional career i worked nearly exclusively abroad. any medical expenses wouldn't have been covered by the usual mandatory insurance companies.

Edited December 23, 2011 by Naam

[BRichards]

There are many insurance companies and which works and doesnt work and which works quickly and which doesnt can be a hit or miss. I dont have the money nor the time to waste. When I moved to Hong Kong I was lead to ask some insurance brokers for their expertise in dealing with the multitude of insurance companies. I went with talked to Globalsurance and pacific prime and they both gave me a lot of help especially in dealing with an insurance plan that offered a good dental coverage.