URGENT News for BUPA policy holders

Tue 19 Aug 2014, 9:44 am

Good Morning All,

Sorry if this may have been discussed elsewhere, maybe I am passing on old news, but I just found out and wanted to let people know..

For those of you who have BUPA health coverage via a falang broker, this may apply to you. My BUPA expires annyally at 31 Aug. BUPA normally sends my renewal notice sometime in July. I had not received mine this year and had been meaning to inquire about it. Yesterday, I finally e-mailed my long-time broker, Paul Rowe, and got a reply last night, in part:

Paul Rowe wrote:

BUPA made a decision earlier on this year to allow only Thai brokers that hold Thai insurance licenses to sell and service their plans going forward.

Annoying, but fair enough, I suppose. However, the fact that nobody bothered to tell me (and according to Paul, many other customers) goes beyond incompetent and verges on medical mal-practice. To be fair, I suppose Paul could have been more proactive, but he says the BUPA plan was to transfer existing clients from their falang broker to Thai brokers.

Whomever dropped the ball and whatever the details may be, I am now left with 2 weeks to try to sort out medical insurance. Being 64 1/2 , one of the important concerns is getting someone to cover me at my age, and who will guarantee that I will not get revoked later on because of age. I got in with BUPA at 61, and as I understand it, that grandaddied me in for life.

Paul also mentioned other carriers and coverage for Thailand that he would be bringing on board, but these all sound like future plans, at least beyond 31 August.

Geezus! It is always f**king something, isn't it?

Anyway, I will pass on any information as I get it. If anyone else knows anything, please post here.

However, the fact that nobody bothered to tell me (and according to Paul, many other customers) goes beyond incompetent and verges on medical mal-practice.

Paul is the broker, he has been paid a lot of money to represent your interests, and he should have informed you. And when Bupa did not take any action, he could have 'sold' his insurances to a broker that did meet Bupa's requirements.

Thanks for the warning here.

There are several points here that need addressing.

BUPA has had problems with foreigners selling their product and so has decided to stop altogether and only sell Brokers with the correct OIC licenses.

The first and most worrying is why trust anyone (Thai or foreign) with your insurance (money) who is not a legal Broker as should a problem occur you would have no redress – this is a case in point ?

Foreigners cannot be Brokers in Thailand period even though we know of several (usually mixed up in the financial industry) who say they are. Those that do continue to act/sell unlawfully can be reported to the authorities.

Bottom line, ask to see the Broker license or check on the OIC website.

As for someone aged nearly 64, there are several companies who will offer cover so one does not need to be pushed into making a quick decision.

What manner of baloney is this?

Personally, I have had problems with those pesky Lithuanians. So, I am not going to do business with any of the sneaky, dishonest bastards anymore . . . Before anyone throws tomatoes at me, of course, I kidding in order to make a point. I would not know a Lithuanian if one snuck up on me and bit me in the ass! But it does illustrate a kind of irrational thinking that goes on too often here.

However, whatever internal squabbles BOOOOOPER is having with those dirty, nasty, rotten falang brokers, it has nothing with me. Nothing whatsoever! At least it shouldn't. I am a customer, not a broker. They have been happy enough to take my money (now nearly US$1,500 per year) for the past five years without my ever filing one claim. Why the hell would they treat a valued customer that way?

So, what is this scenario? BOOOOOPER failed to advise me there had been a change in relationship with their brokers, failed to send me a renewal notice because they are in dispute with my broker? This is about stupidity and incompetence, that's all. And if I had absent-mindedly allowed the coverage to lapse because they failed to send me a renwal notice (as they had been doing for five years), what do you think they would have done?

BTW, my dealings with the OP in the past have been that he is very clever in twisting the truth. He says:

As for someone aged nearly 64, there are several companies who will offer cover so one does not need to be pushed into making a quick decision.

This may or may not be true. And just because a company will cover you, doesn't mean the coverage is worth shit. BUPA is about the least bad of all these low-end plans, and they ain't cheap. The more important thing is if a company enrolls you at 64, will they guarantee coverage for life? BOOOPER had an age 61 cutoff for that, which if my evil falang broker had not pointed out to me I would have missed out on.

So, what is this scenario? BOOOOOPER failed to advise me there had been a change in relationship with their brokers, failed to send me a renewal notice because they are in dispute with my broker? This is about stupidity and incompetence, that's all.

No, they can not send you this directly, your broker should have taken care of this. So it really looks they were correct in ending their relationship with this broker, he is not doing his job.

You are not reading carefully. BUPA (the company, not my broker) has been sending me renewal notices for the past four or five years, and I have been paying them directly. They didn't send me one this year. If they had, I would have paid it and that would have been the end of it.

Although I enrolled via my broker, I have paid BUPA directly every year. Which also contradicts the jibber-jabber the OP said about agents stealing premiums from the company, which may or may not be true, but obviously does not apply in my case as I was paying the company directly. Also, I don't know my brokers relationship with BUPA, but if all his clients paid BUPA directly, he is getting shafted losing all his BUPA clients.

stevenl is correct, this is your brokers fault - you yourself said you enrolled via your broker therefore BUPA pays your broker the commission each year and sends him any communication.

This broker(?) may have agreed with BUPA to get them to send you the renewal notices - although he should do it himself if he was a registered broker which now sounds unlikely - but at the end of the day he was responsible not BUPA

stevenl is correct, this is your brokers fault - you yourself said you enrolled via your broker therefore BUPA pays your broker the commission each year and sends him any communication.

This broker(?) may have agreed with BUPA to get them to send you the renewal notices - although he should do it himself if he was a registered broker which now sounds unlikely - but at the end of the day he was responsible not BUPA

Wed 20 Aug 2014, 8:54 am

This is all pure opinion and idle speculation about who "should" have notified me. There are not enough facts on the table to credibly make such definitive statements. I am not interested in blame and I don't traffic in "shoulds." The company has sent me a renewal notice in July like clock-work for the past five years. There was no reason, none whatsoever, to suspect that this year would be different. When I investigated and discovered important changes had happened and I had not been notified, I was naturally concerned, as anyone would be. It sent me into "crisis mode," and deprived me of enough advance notice to explore my options properly.

If my experience is useful to anyone, fine. If not, that's fine too.

But now I am done following this thread..

The company has sent me a renewal notice in July like clock-work for the past five years. There was no reason, none whatsoever, to suspect that this year would be different.

Because your broker did not do his job.

I rather suspect that the OP has a (legally) signed agreement with BUPA, not with a broker - however, that's only something that the OP knows.

Whatever, I certainly do agree with the OP that BUPA should have contacted him directly about any "important changes" - for, after all, if they discontinue using farang brokers, then it's not really the discontinued broker's responsibility to bring any further news to BUPA's clients. Perhaps BUPA aren't legally bound to inform their clients, but they should at least be, morally. It is, after all, a service organisation, which many pay hefty premiums for...

I'm sure that if I was a broker and got shafted by BUPA in this way, then I'd certainly tell them (perhaps just mentally) to stick it where the sun don't shine...

Oh - and many thanks to the OP for the heads up - very useful information!

Cheers

Why not deal with BUPA directly?

Why not deal with BUPA directly?

No broker problems. No broker.