since about two weeks i'm looking to replace my current health insurance (which is overseas) with one in thailand. the reasons are

• i'm paying extra for my current health insurance benefits that aren't available in thailand
  
• i'm looking to add my wife to their policy which they don't allow (since she's not a citizen of my home country)
  
• whenever i go to a hospital in thailand, i can't just show my shiny card but have to pay for it in advance and then send the invoice overseas to have it refunded in about 2 months.
  

so the first one i gave a visit to was..

BUPA

Pros:

• Coverage from 1-5M baht, costing between 16k-20k per year for my age range, depending on the chosen plan.
  
• wide range of hospitals all over thailand
  
• no need to pay cash in advance, just show the card
  

Cons:

• they want you to pay one year in advance (first insurance company i've seen this)
  
• they don't cover "bacterial" infections.
  
• they don't cover "pre-existing" illnesses. who can guarantee me that my tumor i'll have in 5 years wasn't "pre-existing" since birth, the diarrhea wasn't from a tomato that i ate 20 years ago or...
  
• they don't cover hearing aids or wheelchairs. what happens if i survive a terrorist attack and i can't walk or get deaf from the blast?
  
• they don't cover "criminal acts". meaning if someone stabs me i'm out of luck?
  
• ...and so on.
  

Conclusion:

I probably won't go with them unless i absolutely have to and there's no other good insurance company out there.

ROYAL SUN

supposed to exist in thailand, but couldn't find a website for them...anyone have an office address?

getting good health insurance in thailand seems to be quite a task...

Hi rainman Royal sun has now changed names its now at www.lag.co.th hope that will help. The address is 24th floor thanapoom tower 1550 new pechburi road makkasan rachtevi bangkok 10400

Hi rainman Royal sun has now changed names its now at www.lag.co.th hope that will help. The address is 24th floor thanapoom tower 1550 new pechburi road makkasan rachtevi bangkok 10400

In fact it's not "LAG" but "IAG" :

http://www.iag.co.th/eng/Default.aspx

i'm looking to add my wife to their policy which they don't allow (since she's not a citizen of my home country)

That seems a strange requirement.

The problem is to find affordable, reasonably broad coverage with high limits.

The premiums for individual health insurance policies are usually quite high when compared with what similar benefit levels cost when purchased on a group basis, such as when employers provide health insurance as an employee benefit. Normally group rating kicks in when there are at least ten insureds, not counting dependents.

I wonder whether one of the health insurers' reps who post on Thai Visa would be able to offer a group-rated affinity scheme for TV members at rates significantly lower than what are available on a one-off basis.

thanks a lot! that's the one i was looking for. i was just looking at their rates ..around 20k-40k for my age class. are those payable annually or monthly? anyone currently with them?

thanks a lot! that's the one i was looking for. i was just looking at their rates ..around 20k-40k for my age class. are those payable annually or monthly? anyone currently with them?

Hi,

I am with these guys :

http://www.thaihealth.co.th/index_e.php

They have a good coverage of hospitals countrywide , no payments up front for hospitals. You can add-on worldwide coverage of you need it also non hospital coverage is optional making it as simple or as complete as you want.

the max coverage is not very high but in my view well suited to Thailand's cost of medical care.

You can get an on-line quote here:

http://insurance.thaivisa.com

A few members have signed up, and are happy.

to the OP ... a pre-existing condition is one you have been treated for (or at least diagnosed with) And pretty much no-one covers pre-existing anymore except some policies from work environments will cover IF you have been covered previously ... IE ... you have insurance from one company and change jobs to another company