Health Insurance In Thailand Over 65

[Capealava]

Hello, I am not expecting a obvious solution concerning getting Health insurance In Thailand.

I have been coming to Thailand for 10 years but now will be staying full time as a retiree.

I am 65 yrs old and have a pre-exisitng condition.

Any hope for obtaining Expat health insurance in Thailand.

Any advice is appreciated

[exeter]

In thailand you will almost certainly be asked to take a medical and if what you say is correct then at that time you are not likely to be taken on and anyone did it would be expensive, rising annually and cut off at 80.

As alternative you could marry a local lady who you trust and buy a house.

[citizen33]

As alternative you could marry a local lady who you trust and buy a house.

But how will that help? A yellow tabien baan (house registration document) won't get you a UCS gold card, and anybody without permanent residency won't qualify for the blue book (the version issued to Thais). Even if you somehow get the latter, it probably depends on local officials as to whether you get your gold card. A senior contact in the MoPH told me recently that non-citizens are not supposed to have them, even though some crept through in past years.

One possible answer is to marry a woman who is enrolled in the civil servant medical benefits scheme (a teacher or nurse is okay). Spouse and dependents are covered. But do you really want to marry for a health card?

If you were under 60 and could get a job in the formal sector, you could get a social security card (the third public health insurance scheme) and keep the modest monthly payments up when you retired or left work. Alas that is not possible past 60. Marrying somebody in the SSS scheme won't help as the spouse is not covered.

Edited January 11, 2012 by citizen33

[nong38]

As I understand the situation, similar to mine. I am over 65 but health is ok. I have bought a house it is in the g/f's name, that the Thai law. She has a blue book for the house and went to the local health centre where she was given a Thai medical card, free medical treatment at state hospitals. Went into town to another office to see if I can get the yellow book ( non thais cannot have a blue book). Are you married to this lady? No. You cannot have the yellow book then, marry lady you can have yellow book and the yellow book gets me the Thai medical card for use same as the new wife.

[citizen33]

A case of local interpretation I guess, but not the official position sadly.

[nong38]

A case of local interpretation I guess, but not the official position sadly.

Perhaps I am lucky where I am living then, thats the line I have been given and other posts give a similar retort to mine. Edited January 13, 2012 by nong38

[prakhonchai nick]

As alternative you could marry a local lady who you trust and buy a house.

But how will that help? A yellow tabien baan (house registration document) won't get you a UCS gold card, and anybody without permanent residency won't qualify for the blue book (the version issued to Thais). Even if you somehow get the latter, it probably depends on local officials as to whether you get your gold card. A senior contact in the MoPH told me recently that non-citizens are not supposed to have them, even though some crept through in past years.

One possible answer is to marry a woman who is enrolled in the civil servant medical benefits scheme (a teacher or nurse is okay). Spouse and dependents are covered. But do you really want to marry for a health card?

I am a PR and am named in the blue book. Tongue in cheek I enquired at the local government hospital re a gold card. Nothing doing!

[nong38]

Well the bottom line to this is and we are not going to agree, that I will be lucky and get a medical card and some of you here will not be lucky. I should state no money has been mentioned or will be paid. It might also be worth mentioning that you might a get a different reposnse in a tourist area than where I am. Tourist areas may have had problems which has forced them to view things in a different light.

[cooked]

I too have been looking at this and have seen every answer from 'they sent me a medical card through the post without my asking' to 'definitely only for Thai nationals'. I have to make a decision soon, I am emigrating to Thailand in August and my 65th birthday (cut off point for many insurance companies) is in January. Where this question is asked on forums there is generally little response, making me think that few people have really gone into the question. Or else there are a lot of people out there without insurance...I will get a yellow Tabien Baan card as soon as I can (I have to get married first) and see how to go on from there. Ideal would be to have emergency treatment covered and to be able to put away the equivalent of insurance premiums in the bank every year (ha ha). If the worse comes to the worse I can get repatriated to Switzerland but I don't wish to die there.

I also don't wish to see myself paying insurance for 20 years only to find myself confronted without notice by high premiums or even no insurance at all after a certain age, when I need it most.

[mikecwm]

I too have been looking at this and have seen every answer from 'they sent me a medical card through the post without my asking' to 'definitely only for Thai nationals'. I have to make a decision soon, I am emigrating to Thailand in August and my 65th birthday (cut off point for many insurance companies) is in January. Where this question is asked on forums there is generally little response, making me think that few people have really gone into the question. Or else there are a lot of people out there without insurance...I will get a yellow Tabien Baan card as soon as I can (I have to get married first) and see how to go on from there. Ideal would be to have emergency treatment covered and to be able to put away the equivalent of insurance premiums in the bank every year (ha ha). If the worse comes to the worse I can get repatriated to Switzerland but I don't wish to die there.

I also don't wish to see myself paying insurance for 20 years only to find myself confronted without notice by high premiums or even no insurance at all after a certain age, when I need it most.

I'm pretty sure the old guys in their 80s and 90s are not reading these forums. (Exactly what are they doing?)

They're the ones who can answer these all important questions about cost of premiums when you really need insurance.

I have a nasty feeling that once you get up there in age your premiums will skyrocket until you just have to give in and stop paying them.

Then what? You've paid in millions of Baht for next to nothing and now have no coverage.

Perhaps better to bite the bullet at 65 and salt some money away and add to it each year what a reasonable premium would cost (100,000?).

If you live into your 80s/90s then there will be a tidy sum ready to pay for hospital coverage - assuming you have managed to keep it safe.

65 this year and moving with my Thai wife in 2 years, so time for me to put my money where my mouth is.

[nong38]

I am impressed by the sensible approach that is being taken on this thread. I suspect that out in the expat community this is not the norm and a great number of expats are living here and hoping for the best, hoping they knock off in bed for the last time.

[cooked]

http://www.thailandoutlook.tv/tan/ViewData.aspx?DataID=1035585

Officially you need a Thai ID card, the gold card is being phased out. Thai ID cards are only available to Thais, strangely enough.

Worthwhile making contact with your local hospital's administration in advance and persuading them that you will be able to pay cash as soon as you recover consciousness... TIT, anything is possible, but this isn't the kind of thing you should leave to chance.