Hello

long time lurker looking for some advice.

Planning to come to Chiang Mai for 120 days (double entry tourist Visa) and I'm looking to insure myself for medical emergency.

Cheapest I can find in UK is £100 plus.

Is this the sort of thing I could buy in Chiang Mai.

I realise the UK bought would probably cover for me to be flown back to UK, but not particularly bothered about that. Not bothered about losing luggage, phones etc, just looking to be covered in event of medical emergency.

I am 47 year old male in good health. Any advice appreciated.

Find an annual policy in the UK and make sure it excludes USA. Trailfinders always used to be pretty competitive if I recall so they'd be worth asking too. Better to get it before you go and then you'll get cover for cancellation too. I'd say £100 - £120 sounds about what you'd expect but for a year.

Edit: One other thing. Check to see if you are covered for renting a motorbike. It's a very convenient but somewhat dangerous way of travelling around and many people, despite their original intentions find themselves riding around before long. Some policies exclude or place restrictions and conditions on paying out for injuries sustained when driving or being the passenger on a bike. It can seriously ruin your trip if you're not insured.

Edited January 9, 201214 yr by Greenside

most annual insurances only cover for 3 months travel in the year,

I booked a 8 month holiday and took out insurance via quidco with a cash back amount, ended up costing £1.00 per day.

I just looked at a well known price comparison site for you, and insurefor quoted £110 with 20% cash back from quidco, making it less than £100.00

I have had reason to claim for an inpatient operation this trip, so i'm glad i took out the insurance

Thanks for the input chaps.

as steve said I'll be away for over 90 days so that seems to preclude most of the Worldwide annual cover, and I'll be hiring a scooter straight away, so I'll check that out too, Greenside.

Steve - I use quidco anyway so I'll have a look in there. Thanks both!

If you hire a scooter and you take out travel insurance in the UK all companies will insist you have a full UK bike license if you require cover whilst riding one.

If you hire a scooter and you take out travel insurance in the UK all companies will insist you have a full UK bike license if you require cover whilst riding one.

I read once that unless you have a local bike licence they will use that as an excuse not to payout. Always check the smallprint when taking out a policy.

I recommend BUPA - they are Global I'm sure, very cost effective here & cover all issues like scooter accidents etc, a 57 year old friend here had cover for about $600.00 a year cost, had issues and that covered him in private rooms for heart surgery - 2 x stent inserts for 400,000 Baht - good value IMO.

as far as I know, you can't get medical insurance in Thailand on a tourist visa....

Medical insurance for US$150 per year or so is incredibly cheap. Having lived in the US I know that at age 62 I would have to pay at least $700 to maybe $900 a month for coverage there. Here I'm paying about $150 a month, and I feel that's a pretty good deal. And I don't even know if the insurance is good, since I haven't had a need for it. But then, that's a good thing too.

Readers may have noticed the special provisions about two-wheeled vehicles. There IS good reason for that, especially for visitors not used to local rules of the road!