Anyone have advice on getting private medical insurance, either from aThai companyor a UK companyr? I am in Thailand on a tourist visa and have been told it is difficult to get insurance once in Thailand on a tourist visa. Many thanks. pad9zero

my un - educated take on this...

it is a lot cheaper to maintain consecutive travel insurances with different providers. just book them with internet.

the fees for health insurance only by 'ex - pat' providers are prohibitive.

you can get full cover incl. liability etc. for A$ 100 / month while 'cignat' will charge you A$ 300 for a mediocre health only for the same 30 days.

If you are in Thailand you might want to get in touch with Bupa Insurance and see what they have to offer. Either on-line at: www.bupa.co.th or call them in Bangkok. 02 234-1396.

The company pays for my medical insurance through a UK company, GBP 1.0 million per insured period ie 12 months at a time, think they are paying around GBP 2000 p.a. worldwide coverage except the US, with a GBP 100 deductable

Get it in the UK, some company like Norwich Union will cost about 100 quid for 3 months.

Unless you willing to fork out at least $500 per month (age 40-45) any insurance you get is one shot insurance... What I mean by this is you are on a glorified accident insurance. Yes, they will sort you out if you have a heart attack and pay the bills but from then on they will dump you and leave you uninsurable due to pre-existing conditions.

Destination Thailand or other surrounding destinations ? get the Highest travel insurance possible.

You are about to travel by road in most cases...........

When I lived in Thailand on a tourist visa (in flagrant violation of the law, just like the OP ), I had BUPA insurance...I highly recommend it.

I paid 12,000 baht a year for basic coverage: they didn't cover doctor visits (no biggie, since at the time they were 200, easy to take care of out of pocket), but did cover hospital stays, surgery, etc...AND repatriation for treatment from Cambodia or Laos, an important consideration for me. Added bonus: they gave me a 10% refund every year if I hadn't filed a claim during that year. Don't know how it is now, this was 2003-2008. But I now pay for BUPA for my girlfriend in Thailand (they generally have much better coverage, for cheaper, for Thais); 16,000 a year, which covers a fairly generous number of doctor visits and various procedures, as long as the bill is over 1k...plus all the usual (surgery, hospital stay, etc.).

Unless you willing to fork out at least $500 per month (age 40-45) any insurance you get is one shot insurance... What I mean by this is you are on a glorified accident insurance. Yes, they will sort you out if you have a heart attack and pay the bills but from then on they will dump you and leave you uninsurable due to pre-existing conditions.

This is very inaccurate.

At age 40-45 you van get a local policy with decent ongoing coverage (decent = 2 million baht or more maximum; do nto get less than this!) for a fraction of that amount (more like $80-$100 a month) and an international expat policy for not much more provided you accept a deductible. This in both cases is referring to inpatient-only policies; policies that include outpatient are much more and seldom worth the added cost. in-patient only policies will cover day surgeries and usually also costly diagnostic procedures like MRI.

Travel insurance makes sense only if you are not living full time in Thailand.

For local policy, contact BUPA Thailand. If I recall correctly I first took out BUPA policy while on a tourist visa and I don't recall them even asking to see the visa page of passport, though this might have changed. Only look at the Platinum plans (Platinum 2 or 5) as the other plans have too low level;s of coverage to be worth it. http://www.bupa.co.th/en/individuals.aspx

For international policy, do a google search of "expatriate insurance" and in particular check out Cigna Global and AXA PPP International. The expat policies are more complicated as they have copay and deductible options that will greatly reduce premiums. You can calculate rates online. When they ask for telephone just type in a string of 0's or 1's if you want to avoid having sales people call you.

https://www.axapppinternational.com/en/personal/international-health-insurance/get-a-quote/

https://www.cignaglobal.com/quote/pages/quote/PersonalInformationLiteV4.html?new=true

BUPA Platinum and the international expat policies will usually cover you worldwide except the US so if you travel elsewhere you still have coverage

Sheryl is correct, I overlooked the fact wife and kid is on this policy too.. for single guy it would be cheaper.. but for long term you should ensure they cant boot you off or load your policy due to future ill health.