Thai Health Ministry Considering Plan To Force Foreign Tourists To Buy Insurance

[NewlyMintedThai]

believe in the right to make my own choice about health/travelm insurance...we're not talking about car insurance...stick with the topic at hand

I believe in my right to walk around naked. Society/government believes otherwise.

[jocko]

"As through this world I've wandered,

I've seen lots of funny men,

Some will rob you with a six-gun

And some with a fountain pen." Woodie Guthrie

The pen is mightier than the surgeon's sword.

[freedom4life]

Schengen Countries already have this requirement for Thai, and other nationalities, as a prerequisite for those who require a visa to enter the Schengen Area.

I don't see this as any sort of scam.

Sent from my iPhone using ThaiVisa app

You call it a prerequisite? There is another term that is more accurate...extortion. It is MY choice pal whether I want insurance or not..

[NewlyMintedThai]

Schengen Countries already have this requirement for Thai, and other nationalities, as a prerequisite for those who require a visa to enter the Schengen Area.

I don't see this as any sort of scam.

Sent from my iPhone using ThaiVisa app

You call it a prerequisite? There is another term that is more accurate...extortion. It is MY choice pal whether I want insurance or not..

You mean it's your choice not to travel somewhere that requires it, right?

[VINCENT2012]

when tourist or foreigner ,visiting or living in thailand go to the hospital or go to see the doctor ....THEY HAVE TO PAY FOR THAT SERVICE,IT IS NEVER FREE.

Another money money making idea of Mr. T's goverment. Almost all Europeans have insurance anyway. Not even the very strict homeland security ask me for insurance, when i entered the US. BTW, i was in Cambo last week. Its getting better and better. Peaple in Phnom Penh speak english and i was suprised. Some students speak fluently french as well. Peaple in Phnom Penh drive Lexus instead of Vios or D Max. Another5 year. Lets see whats going on. Sometime i get the feeling that they think Thailand is the only and Nr. 1 Tourist destination in this world. Did they ever been in miami, the caribean islands, Rio or somewhere else to get an idea how for examle, a beachroad should look?

I would imagine it's the massive numbers of Chinese, Indian, Russian and Asian tourists that they're concerned about, not the relatively few European tourists. It seems a bit rich for you to be criticising the level of English in Thailand when your own written English is not exactly perfect!

perhaps his english is not perfect because he is not a hooligan ....but in my not english citizen opinion i would say that he is right anyway.

[geriatrickid]

There is already double pricing in most of the hospitals.

I would think that this would offset the losses they make on the farangs unpaid bills.

Otherwise the double pricing can be demolished when the new health insurance come into effect.

No it does not. The benefits of double pricing usually accrue to the private sector, and not the public sector.

Public hospitals are the ones stuck with the foreign deadbeats.

[ginjag]

Schengen Countries already have this requirement for Thai, and other nationalities, as a prerequisite for those who require a visa to enter the Schengen Area.

I don't see this as any sort of scam.

Sent from my iPhone using ThaiVisa app

You call it a prerequisite? There is another term that is more accurate...extortion. It is MY choice pal whether I want insurance or not..

You mean it's your choice not to travel somewhere that requires it, right?

But my point explained, make me buy it at 71 years, compulsery GOOD now WHERE do I get it. ????

[jonclark]

Well the government needs to continue to fund the rice pledging scheme somehow - 22 million tourist per year at 1'000 baht a head 'insurance'. That will do nicely.

[NewlyMintedThai]

Schengen Countries already have this requirement for Thai, and other nationalities, as a prerequisite for those who require a visa to enter the Schengen Area.

I don't see this as any sort of scam.

Sent from my iPhone using ThaiVisa app

You call it a prerequisite? There is another term that is more accurate...extortion. It is MY choice pal whether I want insurance or not..

You mean it's your choice not to travel somewhere that requires it, right?

But my point explained, make me buy it at 71 years, compulsery GOOD now WHERE do I get it. ????

http://www.insureforall.com/over-70-travel-insurance.cfm

Google is your friend.

Next whinge, please?

[VINCENT2012]

Schengen Countries already have this requirement for Thai, and other nationalities, as a prerequisite for those who require a visa to enter the Schengen Area.

I don't see this as any sort of scam.

Sent from my iPhone using ThaiVisa app

You call it a prerequisite? There is another term that is more accurate...extortion. It is MY choice pal whether I want insurance or not..

You mean it's your choice not to travel somewhere that requires it, right?

it is not the same people going to europe from asia .china.africa,india etc etc , go most of them.....for using our democratic policies ,our freedom and free institution services ...here we come with money and have to pay for pissing.thats a big difference of traveling.

[tropo]

I certainly hope I would not be forced by the Thai government into buying expensive medical/travel insurance that I do not need! I am beginning to think I should take my business elsewhere, maybe Vietnam or Cambodia - after 26 years I am really getting sick and tired of this increasingly over-regulated, over-exposed, overrun country!

LOL. You own country is not "over-regulated, over-exposed, overrun"?

All countries will go that way eventually. That's what developing countries do. Obviously, as you envisage, you'll have to find a less developed "jungle" to live in.... or course then you'll probably complain endlessly about the lack of infrastructure. You can't have your cake and eat it too.

[Beetlejuice]

Forcing people to buy insurance is ridiculous...why can't the hospitals take responsibility for their own decisions on they choose to treat or not treat..plain and simple...I for one would refuse to be coerced into purchasing something I don't agree with...Sounds like to me the Insurance are actually the ones behind this strong arm tactic

Total rubbish.

So if you are involved in an serious accident or suffer a major heart attack and require urgent medical attention otherwise you would die, but do not have enough funds to meet the costs of your treatment, then the hospital consider you unworthy for treatment, would you agree with the decision of the hospital?

No! Not if these issues affected you are someone close to you personally.

You would be thinking; if only I would have taken out full accident or medical insurance policy coverage.

The Point I'm trying to make is I don't agree with FOIRCING people to have to do something like buy insurance...stop going off on tangents.....Maybe I'd rather take the chance and not buy it and if something dopes happen will pay out of pocket...MY choice and its always about ones choice...not extortion

Great, for you if you have the money. If we have money, then we have choices. But this is the whole point. Please read the whole OP and try to fully understand the situation here, which obviously you do not.

Many do not have any adequate medical insurance coverage or enough funds to cover themselves in the event of medical emergencies, and these are the people that are causing the Government to have concerns.

In your opinion how would the hospitals be able to differentiate between those who can pay and those that can`t? Why should it be they`re responsibility after a patient has been treated?

It`s as I have said in my posts many times in the past, due the actions of those who try to abuse the system and the idiots, we all end up paying the price.

Having adequate medical insurance coverage should be a requirement under the Immigrant laws for all ex-pats, including the holidaying, forever tourists, retirees, workers, married to Thais and those legally entitled to stay in Thailand long term.

[witchhunter]

"The Ministry is considering moves which would force tourists to buy insurance by imposing additional fees on air fare or a hotel tax." More regulations - more corruption. I was visiting a physician here once to get a permission to swim in a public swimming pool in Bangkok and I have paid for it. I do not need a health insurance. I prefer to stay healthy and care about what I eat, drink, and go for fitness. What about to force own population to buy health insurance, like it is done in Germany. Or Thailand just tired to get so many visitors and tourists and wish to cut the number of foreigners in the country by imposing on them more and more restrictive regulations?

[rct99q]

I have seen many instances of the local public hospital here admitting patients and never asking about money upfront. The people have been treated and then details were worked out. Most people paid, some did not (or could not).

Have seen everything from bumps and bruises (motor bike accident), mental breakdowns, heart problems, dengue and influenza issues. All were handled quite well.

I work (legally with work permit and visa) in the hospitality/tourism industry and have helped over 100 people with the above. Prices were the same as locals. Care was the same or in fact better than the local in most cases.

Many of these people had insurance but a few did not. The largest outstanding bill that I know of is in the range of 300,000 and the person still pays a little bit each month.

My point - get insurance. I am from Canada and know of several insurance companies that will insure people up to 80 or over. Costly? Yes. But still less expensive than the person paying off 300,000 baht hospital stay that saved their life!!

Oh and not all Thai hospitals are :farang: money sucking operations.

[Mampara]

Ban tourists over 50 or certify they are wealthy before they are allowed to get a ticket to Thailand.

Don't most tourists take out some sort of travel insurance covering illness and emergency treatment?

Why ban the over 50's when most of the problems that Thailand has are caused by the under 50's. One only has to look at the foreign prison population of which 90% are whites that are under 50.

[NewlyMintedThai]

Schengen Countries already have this requirement for Thai, and other nationalities, as a prerequisite for those who require a visa to enter the Schengen Area.

I don't see this as any sort of scam.

Sent from my iPhone using ThaiVisa app

You call it a prerequisite? There is another term that is more accurate...extortion. It is MY choice pal whether I want insurance or not..

You mean it's your choice not to travel somewhere that requires it, right?

it is not the same people going to europe from asia .china.africa,india etc etc , go most of them.....for using our democratic policies ,our freedom and free institution services ...here we come with money and have to pay for pissing.thats a big difference of traveling.

I think you'll find that most of them just go to sight see and shop.

[ginjag]

There is already double pricing in most of the hospitals.

I would think that this would offset the losses they make on the farangs unpaid bills.

Otherwise the double pricing can be demolished when the new health insurance come into effect.

No it does not. The benefits of double pricing usually accrue to the private sector, and not the public sector.

Public hospitals are the ones stuck with the foreign deadbeats.

Very few Foreigners visit the PUBLIC hospital in Udon Thani--I do I go there for Physio every day. It is excellent and I pay prior to treetment 2 weeks in advance, and I have a CARD from them to keep for any visits.

YOUR STUPID remark about (deadbeats) most of the time wasters are thais themselves that visit if they have a cough. I pay a doctors fee, nurses treetment, and pharmacy prescription. I do not mind being a deadbeat then and the doctors are of a different opinion to yours.

[lookingeast]

As it is written, i don't get this story. Any time i've been to a Thai public hospital for minor problems, if i've had an X-ray, i PAY for the X-ray / blood-test, PAY for the blood-test...medicines, PAY for the meds etc etc (sometimes including meds which are wrong for a condition, such as Antibiotics for bronchitis, which i was given). And often in my town the emergency-room staff are sitting around with not that much to do and no cash coming in from the locals. IF there is a medical problem which is beyond their basic level of intervention, then a foreigner is pointed to the private hospital up the road, where the first intervention is the extraction of his credit-card from his wallet etc...from my experience, there's no story here - as it is written.

Edited March 13, 2013 by lookingeast

[nontabury]

if a Thai National visits overseas to a country where a visa is required one of the requirements before a visa is granted is that they must have full travel and medical insurance or no visa given so I guess that Thailand is moving in the same direction.

Wrong,at least it is for the UK,there is no requirement to have travel and medical insurance.

[Lingba]

Forcing people to buy insurance is ridiculous...why can't the hospitals take responsibility for their own decisions on they choose to treat or not treat..plain and simple...I for one would refuse to be coerced into purchasing something I don't agree with...Sounds like to me the Insurance are actually the ones behind this strong arm tactic

Total rubbish.

So if you are involved in an serious accident or suffer a major heart attack and require urgent medical attention otherwise you would die, but do not have enough funds to meet the costs of your treatment, then the hospital consider you unworthy for treatment, would you agree with the decision of the hospital?

No! Not if these issues affected you are someone close to you personally.

You would be thinking; if only I would have taken out full accident or medical insurance policy coverage.

The Point I'm trying to make is I don't agree with FOIRCING people to have to do something like buy insurance...stop going off on tangents.....Maybe I'd rather take the chance and not buy it and if something dopes happen will pay out of pocket...MY choice and its always about ones choice...not extortion

Great, for you if you have the money. If we have money, then we have choices. But this is the whole point. Please read the whole OP and try to fully understand the situation here, which obviously you do not.

Many do not have any adequate medical insurance coverage or enough funds to cover themselves in the event of medical emergencies, and these are the people that are causing the Government to have concerns.

In your opinion how would the hospitals be able to differentiate between those who can pay and those that can`t? Why should it be they`re responsibility after a patient has been treated?

It`s as I have said in my posts many times in the past, due the actions of those who try to abuse the system and the idiots, we all end up paying the price.

Having adequate medical insurance coverage should be a requirement under the Immigrant laws for all ex-pats, including the holidaying, forever tourists, retirees, workers, married to Thais and those legally entitled to stay in Thailand long term.

and you make a good point...again, I don't agree with people being forced to have to do something...especially if they can't afford to...but as you say, what do we do about people abusing the system...???.....In my opinion the whole system needs to be dismantled and reconstructed in a way that can work for everyone..at this point it is not...If health insurance is to be made mandatory then it needs to be made available to everyone that is easily accessable to everyone...plain and simple...and right now in many countries, many people are left out because they simply can't afford it.....I believe there is a new law thats going into effect in the US soon that states that for anyone who doesn't have health insurance, they will penalized by having to be extra taxes ....Is this really fair to a person or family that is truly suffering financially?...I realize thaere are a lot of scammers out there and people that abuse health care...but the whole medical/insurance/pharmaceutical business is a 3 headed dragon that is burdening the average consumer

[Lingba]

believe in the right to make my own choice about health/travelm insurance...we're not talking about car insurance...stick with the topic at hand

I believe in my right to walk around naked. Society/government believes otherwise.

Oh Geez...first you drag in car insurance..now you want to walk around naked....what re we talking about here?...you obviously can't focus on the subject at hand and are trying real hard to integrate subjects that have nothing to do with what is being discussed here.....please stop wasting my time and go out for your walk

[Beetlejuice]

"The Ministry is considering moves which would force tourists to buy insurance by imposing additional fees on air fare or a hotel tax." More regulations - more corruption. I was visiting a physician here once to get a permission to swim in a public swimming pool in Bangkok and I have paid for it. I do not need a health insurance. I prefer to stay healthy and care about what I eat, drink, and go for fitness. What about to force own population to buy health insurance, like it is done in Germany. Or Thailand just tired to get so many visitors and tourists and wish to cut the number of foreigners in the country by imposing on them more and more restrictive regulations?

Brilliant.

You don`t need medical insurance, as it appears you are never going to have an accident or full seriously ill? Have you discovered a system for eternal life and immortality, or do you have two crystal balls that really work? Do you expect to keep in good health for the remainder of your life, even when you get old?

Sorry, but there is no logic in your argument.

[Locationthailand]

2.5M foreign 'visitors' make hospitals, they usually pay don't they ? Am I missing something from this <deleted> here? Anyway I'm not a tourist so who cares?

[Thai at Heart]

It can't be that the actuarial industry cannot work out the death rates of retired foreigners to come up with a yearly payment depending on age so that the government system breaks even.

With all the balcony jumpers and unfortunates around, it might make a profit.

[spud67]

Proof of insurance for all visas makes sense to me. I wish my country would do the same.

[harryfrompattaya]

...

And who knows, maybe it would give a much needed impetus for a lower price, policy covering expats for care in govt hospitals only and regardless of age and pre-existing conditions. Which would be a win-win. Lots of expats unable to get insurance here, or unable to afford what is on the market which are comparatively costly plans aimed at ensuring access to private hospitals (not that these aren't worth getting if you can...but there is a potential market for something more basic and downscale).

...

I would WELCOME mandatory insurance in that scenario. But without the offering, it's goodbye Thailand for a lot of us.

If their was mandatory insurance will they pay off. Remember Farangs make more noise than Thais

[krystian]

Another added expenses on 15 days visa runners lol

[harryfrompattaya]

It's easy enough to do. When you arrive in the country you have to show a copy of your insurance policy along with your passport. If you don't have insurance you have to buy a standard policy nominated by the government (eg Somchai's Health and Jetski insurance Co.) or else you are refused entry.

Disagree, take the money where the cost is in Thailand, too many insurances with a longer list of exemptions than treatments accepted and people just don't read the small print. Pay at the door is in the best interests of Thailand and if implemented correctly would be a better option for the tourist. You pay you get treatment. Ex- pats pay on visa renewal.

You pay, you get treatment?

Everyone who needs expensive medical care would flock to Thailand and buy insurance at the border.

However just because you have insurance does not mean they will Pay

[zoran1]

Ban tourists over 50 or certify they are wealthy before they are allowed to get a ticket to Thailand.

Don't most tourists take out some sort of travel insurance covering illness and emergency treat

Home insurance in Sweden include travel and health insurance for 45 days

[Felt 35]

First they ned to change how visas are achieved and decide what a tourist is ( 3 week or 3 year tourist )then demand proof of insurance to be granted a Visa.......but there are clearly money in the immigration system so....