Travel Insurance for the Missus

[Steps]

Hi All,

  I am due to travel to the UK next year and would like to know if anybody could recommend some travel insurance for my missus who is a Thai National. We went to the UK last year and she had an incident where we had to fork out 200 pound for something that we where told would be covered under the first emergency visit arrangement that the NHS has with foreign nationals from outside the EU. I was not best pleased how it all transpired due to a lack of competence on their behalf as i believe so want to have her covered.

 

Thank You

[madmax2]

When i take my Thai wife to Australia i arrange travel insurance with a Australian insurance company. i tell them she is not a Aust resident or citizen and it costs a bit more but i know she is properly covered in case of accident or illness , there is not much cover with travel insurance in Thailand compared to a Australian policy, probably works the same in the UK 

[Jonathan Fairfield]

Travel insurance can be brought through Axa Thailand. We just walked into our local Axa office and asked for travel insurance to the UK. it was less than 1,000 baht.

[SOUTHERNSTAR]

It depends on how regular you travel and how long you are going to be away per trip. If you travel on a regular basis look at an annual policy. If you are going to stay away for a long time get the appropriate cover. I found that BUPA ihi provides good cover at okay premiums. You can do everything online. 

[jamie2009]

Would my Thai son need Travel Insurance , he has a UK Passport ?

[MW72]

We went to Italy this year and to get the visa we had to show proof of travel insurance. We used Allianz on Petchaburi Road BKK. I can't remember how much it cost but there were many different levels of cover available and it seemed relatively cheap to me.

[Froggybanrai]

Agree with Southernstar, BUPA has a good yearly policy for about 3,500THB. Not sure about UK but this coverage is required to secure a Schenghen visa. Check their website.

[kbelyeu]

I would highly recommend World Nomads.  I plugged in a months travel to Australia and it was about 3000 baht.

 

Kurt

[Steps]

7 hours ago, jamie2009 said:

Would my Thai son need Travel Insurance , he has a UK Passport ?

 

No mate, your son is covered by the NHS as he is a British Citizen

[Steps]

9 hours ago, Jonathan Fairfield said:

Travel insurance can be brought through Axa Thailand. We just walked into our local Axa office and asked for travel insurance to the UK. it was less than 1,000 baht.

 

I will look into this. I worked with a lady in work and she had something similar. Thanks for the heads up

[sandyf]

On 12/10/2016 at 2:11 PM, Jonathan Fairfield said:

Travel insurance can be brought through Axa Thailand. We just walked into our local Axa office and asked for travel insurance to the UK. it was less than 1,000 baht.

Agreed, we use them all the time, do it online very easy.

Back in June we had the Platinum family plan for worldwide cover for the 2 of us for 27 days at about 4K baht.

[chiang mai]

Peter at AA Insurance in Pattaya has sensible options, AA Insurance is a sponsor so easily found - figure 6k baht for a one year multi trip policy but talk to Peter for specifics.

[LindsayB]

also another little tip is buy the insurance the same time as the ticket and then the non refundable ticket will be covered for illness or any reason that the insured cant travel.

[theoldgit]

On ‎11‎/‎12‎/‎2016 at 0:07 AM, Steps said:

 

No mate, your son is covered by the NHS as he is a British Citizen

That's not strictly true, British Citizens are only eligible for free NHS care if they are actually resident in the UK, not if they're visiting, that's why most British Expats follow the advice of the UK Government and purchase travel insurance.

This issue has been discussed at length in the Home Country Forum. 

[theoldgit]

On ‎10‎/‎12‎/‎2016 at 2:11 PM, Jonathan Fairfield said:

Travel insurance can be brought through Axa Thailand. We just walked into our local Axa office and asked for travel insurance to the UK. it was less than 1,000 baht.

You can also purchase AXA Insurance online, the only thing about AXA, and I think most Thai Insurers is that in the event of a medical problem they expect you to pay the medical costs and claim on your return home.
I took out a policy with AXA a couple of years ago to cover me for a weekend trip to Singapore, I took out the policy the day before we travelled, after my wife nagged me to do so.

On our second night there I had a heart attack and was rushed to hospital, they got me restarted and I only spent a week in hospital, and whilst they covered my medical expenses of about 700k, I had to pay them first and reclaim on our return to Thailand. AXA didn't cover things like our extended stay or our rearranged flights.
It's worth looking at World Nomads, who will settle your expenses directly.

[Steps]

On 12/16/2016 at 3:47 PM, theoldgit said:

That's not strictly true, British Citizens are only eligible for free NHS care if they are actually resident in the UK, not if they're visiting, that's why most British Expats follow the advice of the UK Government and purchase travel insurance.

This issue has been discussed at length in the Home Country Forum. 

 

Wow, that's interesting. Something i certainly was not aware of. I will look into that so thanks for the heads up.

[KittenKong]

On 10/12/2016 at 2:11 PM, Jonathan Fairfield said:

Travel insurance can be brought through Axa Thailand. We just walked into our local Axa office and asked for travel insurance to the UK. it was less than 1,000 baht.

 

The level of medical cover on that basic policy seems to be very limited and barely enough to cover European hospital costs for a short time, let alone those in the US or for a complex medical problem. AXA do seem to do packages that offer better cover but of course they cost more. Nothing they do seems to approach the level of cover offered by UK travel insurance (millions of USD).