Health Insurance for over 50 Visas in Thailand

[natway09]

My experiences with 3 of my friends in the last 6 weeks brings to light again the necessity of having paid up health insurance when we choose

to live in Thailand.

The combined hospital bills for these 3 are over 2.5mil bht (& still mounting up) with non of the encumbants having the ability to pay.

Incidently none of these 3 are car or bike accidents, just older & got sick.

Although I know I will get deluged by replies bagging this idea, I am now convinced that if cannot afford to pay an annual health insurance

premium of 60/80 K a year then have no right to live in Thailand & bum off their overtaxed health system.

I have been living here for 23 years & pay a substantial tax bill every year but still do not expect their heatlh system to take care of me.

Please do not bother replying that "can"t afford it" & I do not need it as it just does not hold water

[thailiketoo]

How about a reply of, "I think you are making the story up?"

[wym]

I completely agree with your general sentiment, but not at all with your proposed solution.

I think it would be perfectly fair in the case of indigent foreign residents for the Thai hospitals to withhold expensive care, perhaps just a cheap sedative and simply let us die, or at most a morphine overdose.

And as long as that consequence of being uninsured was well publicized then no problem, let us lie in the bed we've made, I'm perfectly willing to take responsibility for that.

Unfortunately the Thais are far too kind for that.

So I propose requiring either proof of insurance - off a pre-approved list of policies from say the top fifty firms internationally or from the top five in Thailand.

Or, adding a fee to be eligible for the public health system here, at the same standard of care ordinary Thais receive, at the following rate:

Short-term visitors - under a month, a flat B1000 per entry across the board. Longer-term stayers, B600 a month up to 30 years old, B300 per month surcharge for every decade older than that. To include a basic Thai-style cremation if not otherwise taken care of.

Would most likely end up subsidizing the system a little for the Thais, which IMO is fine.

[thailiketoo]

The guy is making it up. Thais wheel you to the ATM with an IV and if you can't pay they bounce you to a public hospital that puts you in a bed in a corner and you die.

[alanrchase]

Not so, thailiketoo. A few years back a friend had a brain hemorrhage and was in the Bangkok hospital in Samui on life support for several months. I went to visit and his wife was there. After visit I was inviited into a room with his wife to discuss various ways to pay the bill so far. In the end his sister med evacuated him back to UK and she settled the bill with his termination pay from his company.

Sent from my GT-I9500 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

[metisdead]

A post containing content copy and pasted from Bangkok Post has been removed as per forum rules 13 & 23:

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/index.php?app=forums&module=extras&section=boardrules

[JLCrab]

Great idea. Go to OIC on Ratchada -- look for this:

[Sheryl]

The story is entirely plausible. I have seen many such cases, including in people who used only government hospitals.

Yes, outpatient care is comparatively cheap, and yes, a very simple straightfoward thing like an uncomplicated appendectomy or hernia repair in a government hospital is also pretty affordable. But not a prolonged ICU stay, cardiac or neurosurgery, et etc and none of us know when or if we may need these.

No one should be here without insurance cover of at least 5 mill baht per episode.

The problem, of course, is that many of the expats who settle here have difficulty obtaining insurance due to age and/or pre-existing conditions. Which is how Thai government hospitals end up losing significant amounts of money annually due to foreigners who could not pay their bills, an issue which is of concern to them and will eventually be addressed somehow. Hopefully by a sensible policy, but TIT....

At this point to require proof of insurance for extension of stay would cause massive chaos as too many people simply cannot get insurance. To work, it would have to be paired with a government sponsored affordable scheme, such as letting people buy into the 30 baht or SS system (hopefully still allowing for private insurance for those who can get it and prefer it). Not going to happen soon though given the political quagmire.