Is Health Insurance In Thailand A Waste Of Money?

[prakhonchai nick]

I have had EXETER health insurance from Exeter friendly Society in the UK for the past 20 years.

In one word - Excellent.

[ProThaiExpat]

Approaching the question to insure or not to insure, if your resident in Thailand, should involve risk analysis.

Do you drive or ride motorcycles? Those who don't, have far less risk of need for hospital insurance than those who do. Just look at the posts in this thread. Every horor story told involved a two wheel vehicle accident. Every year during holidays, deaths and serious injuries in Thailand almost always involve motorcycleists exclusively. (Except for the occasional bus turnover)

Certainly accidental injury insurance is a must for those so foolhardy as to ride motorcycles in Thailand.

If you smoke and or drink, health insurance is a must as you are intentionally injecting poisons that will eventually affect your health. Like motorcycle riding, smoking and drinking greatly increase your risk of health problems.

Family genetic history is another major area to look to in risk analysis. If you parents lived to a ripe old age with little medical problems, other than old age conditions, your risk factors for illnes are greatly reduced.

Thus, those of us who do not engage in risky behaviour and who have good genes are in a different category when assessing the need for health insurance than others who don't.

For those who have posted that one must be crazy to be uninsured for health, my response is you must be crazy to ride a motorcycle, but if you do, you had better have insurance, accident for sure and possibly health as well. Smokers and drinkers as well, especially for those who are out late at night or early in the moring when street crime is so abundant.

The cost of excellent medical care in Thailand being what it is, self insurance is a viable althernative for those resident here. For those who are low risk individuals, it makes economic sense. For the past five years, living in Thailand, my total health care costs have been less than one month's health insurance premium with an international insurance policy, had one been available to me.

Edited January 23, 2007 by ProThaiExpat

[Ijustwannateach]

Something that Heng once said that still makes sense: no matter how loaded you are, in an emergency in which you are unconscious for whatever reason, an insurance card in your wallet is more likely to expedite reliable medical care at a hospital than a note saying, "Trust me, I have the money." It would make sense for everyone to have at least some minor coverage that gets the ball rolling.

"Steven"

[makavelithedon]

Something that Heng once said that still makes sense: no matter how loaded you are, in an emergency in which you are unconscious for whatever reason, an insurance card in your wallet is more likely to expedite reliable medical care at a hospital than a note saying, "Trust me, I have the money." It would make sense for everyone to have at least some minor coverage that gets the ball rolling.

"Steven"

Who would you recommend using from inside Thailand where I can just pop in and buy? I read a few of you use AIA but is this sourced outside Thailand? I did look at it on the surface about 6 months ago but from what I saw it was very uncompetitve compared to sourcing cover in Europe. I go home in 3 months for a family visit where I could get it sorted then. However, if you guys feel there is ample cover available here I'd be wise getting it now.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Mak

Edited January 23, 2007 by makavelithedon

[Spaniel]

Only if you never get to use it! I have had a BUPA policy for the past 3 years and never made a claim so I guess you could say I "wasted" about $3,000.

[Orangutan]

Thai Health Insurance. Wide variety of coverage at reasonable prices.

http://www.thaihealth.co.th/index_e.php

-O

[benw]

Thai Health Insurance. Wide variety of coverage at reasonable prices.

http://www.thaihealth.co.th/index_e.php

-O

My wife and I have Thai Health major medical/emergency coverage through a group policy. We're thinking of getting the outpatient coverage as well. Does anyone have experience using Thai Health's outpatient coverage for hospital visits, lab tests, etc?

Anyway- if anyone has experience with Thai Health's outpatient coverage, please share your insights!

[nikster]

on riding motorcycles - look around you and observe. you will see that thai teens as well as adrenaline-fuelled farangs and middle-aged drunks drive like crazy.

you will also see old people driving around on motorcycles, and without exception they go pretty slowly. you can bet that they never wore a helmet in their life, and that they rode the motorbike every single day.

so are motorcycles dangerous? really depends on how you drive!

i don't want to have an accident in this country so i am very careful on the road. mainly it's important to go slow enough.

i am probably alone with this but i have mixed feelings about helmets. at bicycle speeds, i find them more of a danger than a help - they obstruct my senses so i am more likely to not hear or see something i should hear or see. so the helmet will help if i have an accident, but will also make it more likely that i have one. its a different story at high speeds or while mountain biking etc

[Heng]

It's not just how you drive your motorcycle. Unfortunately, a lot of locals and some foreigners think that anyone who is on a motorcycle (or worse yet, a bicycle) is not worth yielding to, even when they have the right of way.

[soalbundy]

On 1/4/2007 at 12:06 PM, Neeranam said:

I didn't have any insurance for 10 years here. I saved a fortune.

I have the 'pragan sangkom' now and hope I don't save a fortune.

I also have Thai Pragan health insurance linked with a small life insurance. They are OK but firstly one has to pay the hospital bills up front yourself before claiming the money from the insurance and secondly they take around 4 months to pay you and in some instances they take their time by paying in two instalments. It would seem that they don't have a block of money but rely on the monthly or yearly payments from their customers to pay your bills so if they have a lot of customers who need treatment they need to wait for some time before they have enough to pay you. Having said that there was a time when my partner (also insured by Thai Pragan) had a resolute case of TB, the normal medicine that the government hospital used wasn't doing the job so she went to a private hospital, the doctor looked at what she was taking,shook his head and said "we can do better than that" but the injections, 2 a week over 3 months I think, were extremely expensive so the doctor made arrangements for the insurance to pay him directly to which they agreed.

[Neeranam]

5 hours ago, soalbundy said:

I also have Thai Pragan health insurance linked with a small life insurance. They are OK but firstly one has to pay the hospital bills up front yourself before claiming the money from the insurance and secondly they take around 4 months to pay you and in some instances they take their time by paying in two instalments. It would seem that they don't have a block of money but rely on the monthly or yearly payments from their customers to pay your bills so if they have a lot of customers who need treatment they need to wait for some time before they have enough to pay you. Having said that there was a time when my partner (also insured by Thai Pragan) had a resolute case of TB, the normal medicine that the government hospital used wasn't doing the job so she went to a private hospital, the doctor looked at what she was taking,shook his head and said "we can do better than that" but the injections, 2 a week over 3 months I think, were extremely expensive so the doctor made arrangements for the insurance to pay him directly to which they agreed.

I can't remember saying this, but it was 11 years ago!

 

I think you are confused, prakan sangkom is the social security, and I don't have to pay any time,  off I go to my local hospital.

 

Incidentally, I've been there 2 times I think in that time, fort minor procedures.

 

 

[Sheryl]

That is correct, "prakan sangkom" is Social Security.

 

What soalbuddy appears to have is a private insurance of soem sort connected to a life insurance policy. Completely different.

[lopburi3]

Be aware this thread is 12 years old so many costs have greatly increased.