Do I pay for health insurance

[Keith5588]

Hi all,

I am a 64 year old British male, and I am retired from work. I recently stayed in Thailand for 4 months and returned to England 5 weeks ago. I met a Thai lady while there and we got along really well together and so I am going to give it a go and to take a one way flight to Thailand to be with her. The plan is to be ready to take the flight this coming August. At the moment I am preparing my house to be rented out.

I need about £20,000 in savings to qualify for a non immigrant O-A visa and so I will have access to this money if needed while I am in Thailand.

I am not sure whether to pay for medical insurance or to take the risk and pay if I need to, I just cannot decide.

I would love some help on this.

If I do pay for insurance how much it is likely to cost?

What others are doing?

Thanks in advance for your help

Keith

[CharlieH]

How long do you intend on staying? 

 

If its "until further notice" I would strongly recommend you get a good health insurance plan. You could very easily be wiped out financially without one. A relatively minor health/accident event will quickly eat your resouces.

 

Easy enough to get quotes online.

Your are in the UK now check out "cigna" give them a call or get a quote online.

 

https://www.cigna.co.uk/member-resources/member-plan-benefits.html

 

If you are only thinking of 6 months initially to test the waters, (recommended) then get a good travel Insurance.

 

To use an old phrase, and no offence intended, "no fool like an old fool" take your time and dont be taken in by a pretty smile.

 

Best of luck

 

[Sheryl]

Regardless of how long you intend to stay you absolutely must take out insurance,. You otherwise risk being stuck with bills in excess of several million baht in a hospital that may refuse to discharge you until you pay. 5 million andm ore entirely possible if you have a major accident or catastrophic illness requiring prolonged ICU care and specialized surgeries.

 

Just google "hospital bill Thailand foreigner" and you will find plenty of horror stories...all of them true.

 

However the type of insurance you need to get varies with how long you will be here and whether you have maintained a UK address.

 

At this point since you do not know how things will work out, I suggest you just get a travel insurance policy that includes emergency evacuation back to the UK and urgent care in Thailand. Note that this will not cover non-urgent things, but it will cover care that can't wait.

 

If you end up staying then you have two choices depending on your UK situation (once settle out of the country you can lose access to NHS eligibility).

 

There are UK expat specific policies that provide cover fairly similiar to travel insurance, i.e. they'll pay of care in Thailand if it is urgent or if getting it here costs less than what it would cost to fly you back to the UK, but they will send you back to UK (by whatever means necessary inc sometimes medical accompaniment) to have any big ticket work done under the NHS. Such a policy costs less than more comprehensive cover because they count on NHS back up, but this works only if you remain eligible under NHS.

 

Otherwise you can get an expat policy that covers all inpatient care and day surgerys etc in Thailand (OPD cover not worth the added costs, most OPD care is pretty affordable). Cigna global as recommended above is a good option. Premium cost will depend on whether you accept a deductible and any copay. At your age, you can get down to a bit under US $3000 a year if you take both a deductible and copy options - you can  play around with this on their website to see the different permutations. With no deductible and no copay, more like 5000+. It usually makes sense to go for a lower premium and accept some deductible and/or copay assuming you have the wherewithal  to pay if needed.

 

Premiums will rise as you  age, though. and any pre-exisitng conditions will be excluded.

[Keith5588]

Thank you Charlie and Sheryl for all the good advice. Sorry for the delay, I thought I ticked a box to be sent an email if any replies, maybe I didn’t.

 

Charlie,

Yes I will be going to Thailand “until further notice”, It is now May 1^st and a bank holiday here in the UK, “labour day”, I believe Thailand has the same bank holiday so I will give Cigna a telephone call tomorrow and post what I find out.

Your comments about going for 6 months and a pretty smile are very wise. If I was to judge myself I would say I am average, not a fool but not as wise as some. I have just been there for 4 months and in my mind feel happy going there for 1 year. I stayed in Khon Kaen. At the moment my attitude is I wouldn’t send money whilst I am away from Thailand, I wouldn’t build them a house, and I wouldn’t marry, but due to circumstances I would want my lady to leave her factory job so I would give her 15,000 baht per month (her salary).  I am totally honest so I try the best I can to make sure the lady is honest with me.

 

Sheryl

Your comment about maintaining a UK address, I have a lot to learn. I will be renting out my house. The only family I have is one brother (I have no children). I will have my post forwarded to my brothers address. Would that be enough to say I have maintained a UK address?

I will try to find out if I can remain eligible for free NHS at least for the first year.

I have worldwide travel insurance included with my bank account and usually use them. Thank you for your advice, I will give them a call, tell them my situation and ask if they can insure me, and for how long.

At the moment I have no pre existing conditions, take no medication and feel healthy. I feel lucky in that regard. I will find out from Cigna what the yearly premium would be and also future premiums.

 

Thank you both again for your help

Keith