Reasonably priced health insurance

[BaldPlumber]

Hi

 

Expat in Jomtien looking for reasonably priced health insurance.

 

I'm 57 and in, as far as I know, pretty good health. Have a little bit of tinnitus in one ear, but no one is going to fix that!

 

I should explain, I am not interested in a 5-star hotel experience. If admitted to hospital, I don't want or need a private room, I don't care about an al la carte menu, I'm unlikely to be interested in choosing from a specially selected wine list during the course of my stay.

 

I am interested in well trained medical staff who have access to decent drugs, equipment and other paraphernalia that might be useful in the course of fixing me up.

 

Is this an impossible dream or should I be prepared to don my cravat and crushed velvet jacket else feel hopelessly underdressed when presenting myself for my urgent medical experience?

[Swiss1960]

"reasonable priced" does not come with a 5* hotel attached, but mainly with your options about what shall be covered and what shall not be covered. Some examples:

 

• coverage per incident / per year of min 3-5 Mio Baht if you "only" need coverage in Thailand, should however be much higher, if you need it also internationally (i.e. 1 Mio US$ for the US of A)
• what is your financial situation, can you pay yourself for outpatient? Note, this can also easily be few 10'000 Baht, if it includes things like MRI, ECG etc. 
• do you want to pay the first 20/40/60'000 Baht of each incident yourself or do you expect your insurance to cover all?
• do you include / exclude certain other things like dental / eye glasses etc.?
• do you expect payback / lower rates when you do not make any claims for a certain year?

Best option is to talk with a broker (you mention Jomtien, you might go to AA Insurance opposite BigC Pattaya South which I use for all my insurances) and they can then give you various options of insurers. 

 

Note that a broker can also inform you about which insurances will throw you out (not renew your contract) once you reach 65 / 70 years of age and which will not do it. 

 

With my Thai based insurance for under 50K per year, I am well covered for all major hospitals (including private room and food menue), but I do have to pay certain amounts myself and I do only have in-patient coverage. Somebody with the same insurance company might pay double or triple, because he wants OPD included and he wants the insurance to pay 100%. 

 

A broker can lead you through all the options and then give you offers from various insurance companies. 

[howard ashoul]

I pay 12 000 Baht/year.

 

It covers hospitalization up to 4 000 000 Baht, damage to other property up to 2 000 000 Baht, damage to others healh up to 1 500 000 Baht and included is also transport to my country, lawyer and something else.

 

But it's also limited. They will pay only treatment over 5000 Baht, dentist up to 20 000 Baht.

 

But I don't need anything more...I'm quiet happy with that.

[faraday]

Which Insurance company Howard & how old you?

[howard ashoul]

6 minutes ago, faraday said:

Which Insurance company Howard & how old you?

I'm 28.

It's insurance company from my country, Czech republic... .

Just wanted to show, that you can get enought coverage for a reasonable price.

[teddog]

Just now, howard ashoul said:

I'm 28.

It's insurance company from my country, Czech republic... .

Just wanted to show, that you can get enought coverage for a reasonable price.

 

Way to go,can the 57 year old guy get this coverage too in Czech republic?

[BaldPlumber]

Way to go,can the 57 year old guy get this coverage too in Czech republic?

[emoji39]

[BaldPlumber]

Swiss1960 thanks for the advice, Howard thanks for the entertainment!

[howard ashoul]

3 hours ago, BaldPlumber said:

Swiss1960 thanks for the advice, Howard thanks for the entertainment!

Why entertaiment? Here you go. Insurance since 1. june 2017 to 31 May 2018 (= 1 year) for all countries of of the world except Czech republic.

 

It's just a summary. If you click for e details, there's also included a lawyer and some other stuff.

 

 

 

13 hours ago, teddog said:

Way to go,can the 57 year old guy get this coverage too in Czech republic?

I doubt. Their website is in Czech language only.

Edited May 7, 2017 by howard ashoul

[Sheryl]

Costs vary greatly by age, for any policy. What a 28 year old pays is not indicative at all of what ti will cost a 57 year old.

 

No insurance policy pays for extras like fine wines and gourmet meals, and most will only pay for semiprivate room when available (though somehow the private hospitals seem able to get around that as long as the total room charge fits within the policy cap).  Policies with lower allowance for room and board charge (which is the only place where the difference between fancy and not fancy hospital comes into play) unfortunately all also have lower total per incident or per year maximums, and this means inadequate coverage in case of a really major illness or accident, even if in a multi-patient unaircon ward at a government hospital. So long story short, your lack of interest in a hotel like experience (which I share) is not going to be relevant to choice of policy.

 

The things you need to consider are:

 

- total level of coverage per incident or per year: the ideal would be 5 million baht. Unfortunately few policies offer that level, off hand I know of only one (BUPA Platinum 5). Mostly the choice is between ridiculously low levels of cover from Thai-based policies and more than you need from internationally-based policies.

 

- whether you can afford to pay an excess or copay - this option is not usually available in Thai issued policies but most international ones do offer it and it can produce substantial savings in  premium costs.

 

-whether chronic diseases are excluded. As you age, the things you are most likely to encounter will be chronic diseases. Be aware that companies vary in how they define "chronic". My advice is to avoid any policy with a chronic disease exclusion. (referring to newly acquired - -they will all exclude a pre-exisiting one).

 

- whether life time cover is guaranteed and whether premium changes can be made based on prior claims. These two things are linked as a guarantee of lifetime cover does you no good if they have the flexibility to price you out once you are old and sick. I have not found any Thai-issued policy which meets this criteria. This issue is especially important for people who plan to remain in Thailand for life. If you have  fall back option of moving back  to a country where there is a national health service of other govt sponsored care, less vital. So in other words, if you plan on being here for life and would nto be readily able to chaneg that plan later if you develop a chronic condition --> you need an internationally issued policy. Which solves issue 1, as all of them provide higher levels of coverage that you are likely to need in Thailand.

 

There is an unmet demand for private insurance limited to government hospitals for expats in Thailand. The only way to get something like that now is to get covered under Thai SS through employment with a work permit. If you can manage that,  it is the best deal going in terms of cost (for people willing to accept care only in a govt facility) and you can maintain it for life through self pay once you have been employed at least 1 year.

 

 

 

[BaldPlumber]

Sheryl, thank you so much for your input and advice.

Much appreciated.

I'll read it again tomorrow and take some notes!

Many thanks