Make travel insurance compulsory, say voters in Phuket poll

[webfact]

Make travel insurance compulsory, say voters in Phuket poll

The Phuket News

 

Passengers are screened on arrival at Suvarnabhumi Airport during heightened MERS health alert in 2015. Photo: AFP

 

PHUKET: -- A majority of people who took part in an online poll by The Phuket News have called for introducing mandatory travel insurance for all tourists entering Thailand.

 

The poll, held over two weeks, was posted online after a report by the Bangkok Post earlier this month cited an “informed source” that the proposal was to be forwarded for consideration by the national tourism policy commission.

 

The concept is not new, and initially surfaced in 2013. 

 

Full story: http://www.thephuketnews.com/make-travel-insurance-compulsory-say-voters-in-phuket-poll-62729.php

 

-- © Copyright Phuket News 2017-06-26

[JoePai]

Excellent idea but they also need to copy the EU and state a minimum amount* of Medical cover before being allowed in

 

* €30,000 ?

Edited June 26, 2017 by JoePai
Insert amount

[Just1Voice]

I see nothing wrong with this. 

 

[fiddlehead]

5 minutes ago, Just1Voice said:

I see nothing wrong with this. 

 

Perhaps you are an insurance salesman. 
Have you ever tried to collect insurance from a travel insurance company? 
I have. 
It took almost a year to get my mother some money from them after a bad trip she went on. 
Insurance companies are in business to take your money. 
Not to pay it out. 

(know any poor insurance salesmen?)

 

[Dave67]

They dont like having to spend money on Tourists , tourists who provide Thailand with 10% of GDP. UK should reciprocate

 

Is it for everyone or just tourists ?

[pattjock]

As most of the tourist related hospital costs are related to traffic and other accidents they should be proactive and try to minimize these not reactive and pay for the damages.

 

Ban the already illegal jet skies, apply heavy fines on motorbike rental places that rent bikes to people without a license, make sure the police actually book people for traffic offenses, make sure all the speed boats and ferries are in good condition and are driven by competent people.

 

If this is done there will be a lot less deaths and injuries among both tourists and Thais and the government hospital costs will go down.

[Seismic]

I agree, and at the same time bring in a law requiring all Thai's who travel outside the kingdom to purchase large insurance policies.

[stevenl]

23 minutes ago, Dave67 said:

They dont like having to spend money on Tourists , tourists who provide Thailand with 10% of GDP. UK should reciprocate

 

Is it for everyone or just tourists ?

I know UK is not Schengen, but for Schengen this is already compulsory, I would presume for the UK as well.

 

Problems are that quite a few countries already have health insurance for citizens abroad, which is the real aim of this question, so why force them to buy travel insurance?

In order for the insurance to be affordable and viable cover would be limited, so it may reduce but not solve problems.

How to handle people here on extensions of stay or non-immigrant visa?

 

There are lots of issues to be solved, and implementation would very likely lead to many problems. Think only of the compulsory check.

[Thechook]

17 minutes ago, pattjock said:

As most of the tourist related hospital costs are related to traffic and other accidents they should be proactive and try to minimize these not reactive and pay for the damages.

 

Ban the already illegal jet skies, apply heavy fines on motorbike rental places that rent bikes to people without a license, make sure the police actually book people for traffic offenses, make sure all the speed boats and ferries are in good condition and are driven by competent people.

 

If this is done there will be a lot less deaths and injuries among both tourists and Thais and the government hospital costs will go down.

There should be compulsory 3rd party insurance attached to vehicle registration.  In Aust for example when you pay your anual registration you pay the insurance and if a person is hurt or god forsake even killed including tourists visiting all medical costs and future rehab are covered by the tansport accident commission.  Why doesnt thailand have such a scheme other countries have had it for 50÷ years.  Travel insurance should still be compulsory I agree but most tourists are injured in traffic accidents at the hands of thais and left with the bill.  

[LivinginKata]

1 minute ago, Thechook said:

There should be compulsory 3rd party insurance attached to vehicle registration.  In Aust for example when you pay your anual registration you pay the insurance and if a person is hurt or god forsake even killed including tourists visiting all medical costs and future rehab are covered by the tansport accident commission.  Why doesnt thailand have such a scheme other countries have had it for 50÷ years.  Travel insurance should still be compulsory I agree but most tourists are injured in traffic accidents at the hands of thais and left with the bill.  

 

But there already is a compulsory insurance.  For sure this low cost insurance covers no mechanical damage and only limited (quite limited - think  50,000 baht person). I assume you want a higher grade vehicle insurance made compulsory ? Various levels of insurance is available.  

[Lupatria]

I guess I'm missing something here, like:

 

Make travel insurance provided by a Thai company compulsory, say voters in Phuket poll

Edited June 26, 2017 by Lupatria

[Sheryl]

In theory it is a good idea to require travel insurance (NOT specifically Thai issued insurance) for tourists but I have trouble envisioning how it can be enforced given the large numbers who enter visa exempt. Screening for proof of insurance at immigration entry points would be impractical.

[stevenl]

37 minutes ago, Sheryl said:

In theory it is a good idea to require travel insurance (NOT specifically Thai issued insurance) for tourists but I have trouble envisioning how it can be enforced given the large numbers who enter visa exempt. Screening for proof of insurance at immigration entry points would be impractical.

Only option that I can see: compulsory Thai insurance from one company bought automatically by everyone, included in the ticketprice.

 

You're only missing the overland entries, but I think those are not many compared to flying in (I may be wrong there, think of the many Malaysians going for a night out in Hat Yai).

[Dave67]

What about if you have insurance from outside of Thailand already. You still have to buy their 650bt zero cover plan ?

[quadperfect]

Voter fraud for sure. Maybe those chinese kids did the deed.

[Rimmer]

A troll post of no value to the topic has been removed

[Dumbastheycome]

7 hours ago, Thechook said:

There should be compulsory 3rd party insurance attached to vehicle registration.  In Aust for example when you pay your anual registration you pay the insurance and if a person is hurt or god forsake even killed including tourists visiting all medical costs and future rehab are covered by the tansport accident commission.  Why doesnt thailand have such a scheme other countries have had it for 50÷ years.  Travel insurance should still be compulsory I agree but most tourists are injured in traffic accidents at the hands of thais and left with the bill.  

A sound  idea  only  if  all  vehicles  have  annual registration. A way  to  survey the  percentage  is  count  the  number  of  quick turnabouts  of  vehicles  approaching a  checkpoint. lol

[Kopitiam]

Certain countries (Schengen?) require compulsory travel insurance when you apply for a visa.  However, I have not heard of any country asking tourists on visa exempt for compulsory travel insurance when entering the country.  Thailand could be the first country in the world to do this regardless of the chaos to be expected in all entering points into the country.

[LivinginKata]

30 years ago when I regularly flew cheapy charter tour flights buying travel insurance was required if you not show some sort of personal annual policy. Not sure if this was a money making scam but as far as I know the airline had a responsibility for their tourist.

 

So why not have the airline bringing people responsible for medical expenses. Seems an easy solution.

 

[Ulic]

Travel insurance dose not cover pre-existing conditions and there are so many exclusions that it

is practically worthless. It sounds like a good idea but nothing would change from the point of

Thai hospitals getting paid vs. stuck with the bill. When I read about most accidents involving tourists

they are caused by Thais. Why does their insurance (taxi, cement truck, cars, etc) not cover the

hospital bills of a tourist injured by them.

[Ulic]

Personally I would be quite happy to pay for Thai insurance on arrival that will cover me no questions asked

for accidents/emergencies in Thailand versus travel insurance purchased in my home country that really does

not cover you. I am quite certain that 90 % of tourist who have purchased insurance are not covered for much

(if anything) but because nothing happens to them they never have to make a claim and never find out they

insurance coverage is actually non existent.

 

[RickFarang]

Another money grab.......

 

[Thechook]

6 hours ago, Ulic said:

Personally I would be quite happy to pay for Thai insurance on arrival that will cover me no questions asked

for accidents/emergencies in Thailand versus travel insurance purchased in my home country that really does

not cover you. I am quite certain that 90 % of tourist who have purchased insurance are not covered for much

(if anything) but because nothing happens to them they never have to make a claim and never find out they

insurance coverage is actually non existent.

 

Full travel insurance will cost you around $1,000 AUD for a 2 week stay in thailand.  This covers everything, vehicle accidents, muggings tropical diseases and up to 5 days stay in hospital.  Cheaper covers only cover administration costs and don't insure you for anything.

[freebyrd]

Seems sensible to me. My wife and I are going for 3 nights in BKK this week. No motor bikes Tuk Tuks and of course no jet skis , just a quiet few days but I'm 60 and.......

 

As an aside, even though I'm English I took out travel insurance for a 5 week trip to the UK a couple of months back. The way things are in the UK these days you never know if you will be asked to pay if something does happen.

 

It's the responsible thing to do wherever you travel to.

[madmitch]

3 hours ago, Thechook said:

Full travel insurance will cost you around $1,000 AUD for a 2 week stay in thailand.  This covers everything, vehicle accidents, muggings tropical diseases and up to 5 days stay in hospital.  Cheaper covers only cover administration costs and don't insure you for anything.

I don't know where you have been looking.

 

You can get perfectly good coverage for well under A$100.

[Old Croc]

While the tally of unpaid hospital bills, left by a few tourists, sounds large when stated in isolation, it is miniscule in comparison to the benefits of mass tourism to Thailand and a small item in the country's overall budget.

The few cases of major injury and illness that occur with the uninsured, requiring hospitalisation, is not, in my opinion, a major crisis requiring drastic, and almost impossible to administer, forced legislation.

 

Of course, short term tourists should always have travel insurance, and, when an uninsured visitor gets in trouble and wants others to bail them out, their pleas fall on my deaf and uncaring ears. I always bought insurance when travelling.   

 

How to implement a compulsory scheme gives rise to many questions, such as how to check/collect at the many land borders (no tickets on which to impose a tax), how does it work with multiple entry tourists and long term stayers who are still considered to be temporary visitors. The chaos and waiting times for clearance on entry would increase dramatically.

A Thai scheme where insurance would have to be bought at the border would quickly turn into a farce in this country of corruption and inefficiency. The administration costs would be much greater than the current hospital debts. It would just be another form of arrival tax, and brown envelope heaven, for any who can get themselves involved. The Phi Phi park entrance fee scandal would pale into insignificance in comparison.

 

Also, the delineation between travel insurance and health insurance is muddied now, even some posters above don't understand the difference. When does a long term visitor stop requiring one and need the other? 

 

A storm in a teacup, most other countries wear such costs.

 

[Kopitiam]

I wonder if there is any TV member who can share any experience of tourists visiting a foreign country without travel insurance and needed medical care.  How are they treated?

[wgdanson]

On 6/26/2017 at 0:41 PM, Thechook said:

There should be compulsory 3rd party insurance attached to vehicle registration.  In Aust for example when you pay your anual registration you pay the insurance and if a person is hurt or god forsake even killed including tourists visiting all medical costs and future rehab are covered by the tansport accident commission.  Why doesnt thailand have such a scheme other countries have had it for 50÷ years.  Travel insurance should still be compulsory I agree but most tourists are injured in traffic accidents at the hands of thais and left with the bill.  

There is compulsory insurance, but not 'that' compulsory. 

[Godang]

After a certain age you cannot get travel insurance, this probably includes a lot of expats.

[Dumbastheycome]

There are  many  cheap options available  for  Travel Insurance. Most if  not all  offer adequate  levels  of  cover    subject  to minimizing  risk  criteria. ( no comment as  to  claim ability)

If Thailand  insists on  having such as a criteria  for  entry  it is  not a great drama.

Unless.....if there  is   some insistence  that  it  cover  the  duration of stay ! Which  would  mean anybody  who  stays  more  than the  nominal  3  months  most insurance policies are  valid could   encounter problems.

That  is the  issue  that  expats could  maybe  consider rather  than  harping  endlessly  on   about   what is  proposed in the  aspect  of  "tourists".

Is it  possible  that  for  applications  for  extensions of  stay there  will  be  a  requirement  to  show  current  and  ongoing   accident/sickness  insurance cover?

In light  of  that  perhaps  there  is  an  opportunity  upcoming  to  find  an  Expat  Insurance  Broker who  can provide   reasonable  valid  collective  cover that  satisfies  requirement  without  extorted  cost.

Despite  all  options it  is  difficult  to foresee how  to  overcome  the usual cutoff  age criteria involved  in  any  Insurance  policy if  having  Insurance becomes  a  mandatory requirement .