Phuket Poll: Is compulsory health insurance for tourists worth it?

[Lite Beer]

Phuket Poll: Is compulsory health insurance for tourists worth it?
Phuket Gazette -

Health Minister Pradit said once a conclusion had been reached on charging foreign tourists for health insurance, it will be proposed to the Cabinet. Photo: The Nation

PHUKET: Stories of fundraisers to cover the medical costs of friends and loved ones are not strangers to Phuket’s news pages. Dozens of stories a year roll in, and many more remain undocumented, about those travelling through The Kingdom who succumb to unfortunate circumstances and rack up enormous medical bills as doctors fight to save them.

Many of these bills remain unpaid costing the country more than 200 million baht annually. Others are only paid after family and friends band together to raise the necessary funds to cover hospital costs.

The financial burden on the state in providing medical care to uninsured tourists has been a growing concern.

Public Health Minister Pradit Sintavanarong’s recent announcement that related agencies were discussing a plan to charge tourists a separate fee for entering the country has sparked much controversy.

The plan being discussed proposes charging tourists up to 500 baht for a three- to 30-day stay, and 30 baht for stays of less than three days

Mr Pradit said once a conclusion was drawn, it will be proposed to the Cabinet.

In our latest online readers’ poll, the Phuket Gazette asks: What is the best insurance solution for foreigners entering Thailand?

Options available in the poll are:

1) The proposed 500-baht compulsory insurance plan for all foreign tourists

2) Some form of compulsory insurance, but not the proposed 500-baht insurance plan

3) A 500-baht optional insurance plan supported by the government

4) None, there is no need to force foreigners to have compulsory insurance for entering Thailand

Source: http://www.phuketgazette.net/phuket_news/2013/Phuket-Poll-Is-compulsory-health-insurance-for-tourists-worth-it-22743.html

-- Phuket Gazette 2013-11-08

[JetsetBkk]

Option 4.

200 million a year? Yeah, right.

[Guest]

5) Thailand could provide free healthcare for all. Paid by the money the country benefits from the tourists.

[JoeLing]

First they write about "Foreign Tourists" then in the poll it says "Foreigners"
So what’s the poll about Tourist Visa or/and non-immigrant visas?

I reckon most married foreigners who live here in Thailand, will already have
insurance to take care of them and their family. So for which one do we vote?

No: 2 - If the poll is about foreign tourists.

With many package holidays, there’s an option to buy travel insurance for the
duration of your stay and many student travel agencies offer insurances for up
to a year.

Either show your own travel insurance or purchase a compulsory insurance at
the border or show a return flight ticket and valid travel insurance during your
visa application.

Maybe when applying for a “Non-B” visa or work permit, they could ask for a
health insurance certificate as well. Thai immigration already asks for so many
documents that one more or one less, would not make much of a difference.

Maybe the new law could have a clause that the Thai Government will pay all
treatment, rehabilitation and court cost, should any tourist get injured by the fault
of a Thai national? Maybe I should throw in a few more, just as a bargaining point,
like free hospitality until the case comes to court and of course, free repatriation.

[iSabai]

Seems to me that any country mandating its visitors to buy health insurance would be sending the (obvious) message; "Warning: This country is hazardous to your health!"

[stevenl]

Seems to me that any country mandating its visitors to buy health insurance would be sending the (obvious) message; "Warning: This country is hazardous to your health!"

So that would mean that e.g. all Schengen countries are dangerous to Thai.

[JoeLing]

Seems to me that any country mandating its visitors to buy health insurance would be sending the (obvious) message; "Warning: This country is hazardous to your health!"

So that would mean that e.g. all Schengen countries are dangerous to Thai.

No idea. Which countries in Europe ask for compulsory health insurance from Tourists?

[iSabai]

Seems to me that any country mandating its visitors to buy health insurance would be sending the (obvious) message; "Warning: This country is hazardous to your health!"

So that would mean that e.g. all Schengen countries are dangerous to Thai.

Actually the little 'whistle guy' thingy at the end of my post was supposed to denote a bit of 'tongue-in-cheek-ism'.

(By the way, I had to look up "Schengen" to make sure you weren't calling me names or something… ) <-- (Just kidding!)

[Arkady]

This is not proposal for a health insurance scheme for foreign tourists. It is a proposal for an entry tax on foreign tourists regardless as to whether they already have their own health insurance or how many times they go in and out of Thailand during their trip to the region. The amount of money raised would be many, many times the level of currently unpaid hospital bills left by foreign tourists, about which there are no audited or reliable figures available, and there is no guarantee that any of the money would ever go to pay for foreign tourists' healthcare. It is in short a proposal for a huge sum of money to be raised in arrival tax from foreigners that will never be accounted for and most of it will be stolen by corrupt politicians and civil servants. Remember what happened to the foreign donations for the tsunami victims. No one was ever prosecuted for the theft of the vast majority of these donations despite protests by around 30 foreign governments.

[NamKangMan]

This could also backfire and see the majority of tourists, particularly the package holiday tourists, not purchase their own travel insurance, as they are under the belief that for their 500 baht on arrival, the Thai Government will pay for any, and all, medical treatment that they may require, whilst on their holiday.

Also, Thailand could become the "hub" of 500 baht medical tourism.

Edited November 10, 2013 by NamKangMan

[schlog]

hub of greed........greedy insane idea.

sure also expats with private health insurance have to pay no matter if they have perfect cover already.

maybe the mob in bkk will clear this health minister and pm out of office next week.

[NamKangMan]

hub of greed........greedy insane idea.

sure also expats with private health insurance have to pay no matter if they have perfect cover already.

maybe the mob in bkk will clear this health minister and pm out of office next week.

If it really is all about greed and making more money for those in power, he will be given a more lucrative portfolio, or promoted, not transfered or fired.

Edited November 10, 2013 by NamKangMan

[Arkady]

This could also backfire and see the majority of tourists, particularly the package holiday tourists, not purchase their own travel insurance, as they are under the belief that for their 500 baht on arrival, the Thai Government will pay for any, and all, medical treatment that they may require, whilst on their holiday.

Also, Thailand could become the "hub" of 500 baht medical tourism.

This is exactly the sort of thing that would happen. At the very least some people who would otherwise have bought their own insurance won't and some tour operators, e.g. in China, might stop insisting on it for their groups. Then the numbers of foreigners visiting govt hospitals would increase significantly. Without doubt you would quickly see reports of foreigners complaining they got appalling treatment, no treatment at all or were forced to pay for it. Also private hospitals would have to deal with tourists showing up for treatment because they have no way of knowing which are govt and which are private. Reports of tourists being refused free treatment at private hospitals would be reported in their home countries as refusal by govt hospital etc, etc.

Then there would the types you mention who deliberately come for non-emergency treatment and may actually end up quite sick and needing treatment urgently. Some chancers would go and bother dental hospitals and clinics, probably cosmetic surgery outfits too.

It would be a disaster that would end up hugely damaging for Thailand's tourist image and it can only be uncontrollable greed that makes them even consider this.

Far more sensible to swallow the occasional case of a farang on a transit visa who comes off his bike in Samui without insurance or funds but make a choice of medical insurance compulsory for people on visas applied for at embassies or on extensions of stay. For the latter they would have to provide some sort of alternative alternative, as senior citizens can't always obtain insurance at a price they can afford. Checking insurance of people on transit visas would cause massive queues and is not practical but for other visas it is, as is required for Thais applying for Schengen visas. The problem with this is that, while it would solve much of the problem, it wouldn't generate any corruption money which is clearly the main objective of the ridiculous scheme proposed.