Health insurance on tourist visa?

[MABD]

Hello there,

Does anyone know if it is possible to purchase health insurance while on a tourist visa?

thanks

[Sheryl]

Yes.

AFAIK (and can remember from my own experience) local insurers like BUPA do not even ask to see your visa. They'll likely want the face page of your passport but that's it I think.

And you can also get an expat policy from an international insurer that will cover you not only in Thailand but in any other country you may visit (except the US- that costs extra!). In soem cases these policies will also cover medical evacuation back to your home country if needed.

If you are not sure you will be staying here permanently you might also consider travel insurance, will cover you for up to 12 months and some can be applied for after you are already abroad, e.g. world nomads. These cover medical care in country and also medical evacuation back to your home country if required.

If you choose to buy a local policy be careful on the level of coverage, for some reason they tend to sell a lot of very low cover policies here which are hardly worth having. You need at least 2million baht cover per episode if you will use only government hospitals and 5 million if you want the option of using private ones. Most illnesses/injuries will run to less than that of course, but this is what really catastrophic accidents and illnesses can run to.

[MABD]

Thank you so much for your reply. We (meaning my Thai wife and I) are planning and extended holiday and will be traveling through Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam. We're looking at about 7 months total. Our policy at home would expire after the first two months of travel so we would need 5-6 months of some form of coverage in case of anything major. I think that not having a policy at home disqualifies us for travel insurance. Our interest would be in one of the better plans, eg 5 million baht.

This represents a bit of a change of plans for us and I am still actively researching so any thoughts on good, better, best or stories shared would be much appreciated.

metta

[Sheryl]

Not all travel insurance require that you have a policy back home. Check world nomad website, I don't recall seeing that there. But possible it is buried somewhere in the fine print.

A BUPA Thailand Platinum policy will cover you worldwide except the USA, but while your visa does not matter you do need a Thai home address to get it, and you can't get it for less than a full year. In that instance in event of an emergency while traveling in say Cambodia, they would cover cost of getting you back to Thailand (which you would definitely want as health care in Cambodia is dreadful).

As a Thai citizen your wife is actually entitled to free health care in Thailand at the hospital which covers the area of the tabian ban she is listed in (house registration). But of course that won't help if she gets ill in Cambodia or Viet Nam.

[chubby]

.......you probably just want to "self-insure" in SEA, and get evacuation coverage only. fwiw, world nomads i found is 4-5 x the cost of other companies, and other than anectodal testimony, i can't see, why one would pay the higher pricing ....

.....do you have any existing health problems? what is your age and country that you reside in?

[MABD]

actually, we have had to once again had to postpone/change our plans. Everyone please enjoy Thailand for us!