Health insurance in Thailand

I’ve been checking into many things concerning a possible move to Thailand and the most important would be health insurance. The majority of American companies will not cover you overseas and if they will the premium is high, so I started with the 2 biggest Thai Health insurance companies and here’s what I found.

BUPA- Their platinum plan that covers up to 2 million baht per disability for hospitalizations and Out Patient Benefits up to 50,000 baht total per year. The premium for this coverage is 50,202 baht in the age band of 41 to 45 years of age. If you want coverage for hospitalization only, the premium is much lower at 28,111 baht per year. There are different rates for hospitalization coverage per disability of 1 million and 5 million baht respectively.

Exclusions :
- Coverage is worldwide, but in the United States BUPA will only cover medical expenses, which are the result of an accident
- Annual Check up (one visit per year) covered up to 700 baht
- Emergency Medical Assistance fully covered
- Overall maximum coverage of 2 million baht applies (per disability)
- Pre-existing conditions are NOT covered
- Not covered (this is not a complete list) : Birth control, treatment for infertility, hormone replacement therapy, congenital abnormalities, mental illness and stress related conditions, dental treatment, sexually transmitted diseases, alcoholism, drug abuse, transplant surgery, renal dialysis, treatment for injuries resulting from dangerous sports. Interestingly not more than 200,000 baht will be paid for injuries occurred while driving a motorcycle (or being a passenger). Bacterial infections after an accident are not covered.

IAG -Now known as NZI ( I think). Their Comprehensive insurance package in the age band of 40 to 44 years. Premium is 59,589 baht per year. With increasing age, rates go up . For example between the age of 60 and 64 you would pay 135,897 baht per year.
This package has a standard co-pay per medical condition applicable to out-patient claims of 1,800 baht.

Exclusions :
-Overall maximum of coverage is 80 million baht
-Out-patient treatment is covered up to 340,000 baht (an excess as stated of 1,800 baht per condition)
- Dental treatment covered up to 34,000 baht (but insured person has to pay 25% of the costs incurred per claim)
- Medical check-up covered up to 10,200 baht
- Chronic medical conditions covered up to 34,000 baht per year
- Organ transplants covered up to 13,600,000 baht
- Nursing at home covered up to 170,000 baht
- Emergency evacuation and repatriation covered in full
- Emergency medical treatment outside are of cover up to 2,040,000 baht
- Exclusions (this is not a complete list):
Pre-existing medical conditions. After 2 years of continous insurance some pre-existing conditions may become eligible again
Chronic medical conditions.
Hormone replacement therapy, congenital abnormalities, kidney dialysis, injuries due to professional sports, sleep apnoea, sexually transmitted diseases (including HIV/AIDS)

Several things being excluded are worrisome, such as Dialysis and STD’s.

The pre-existing condition part can be a bummer for most people over 40. High blood pressure is a biggie that leads to many other problems so it seems if you have a heart attack and you had high blood pressure even if it was minor the heart attack wouldn’t be covered. Then what about kidney stones and discectomies? I’ve had both!

Neither seem to have a requirement for a pre screening physical but I’m sure if something happens it can point to another ailment that would leave you high and dry.

I guess I have a lot of looking around to do.

talensig

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6 Responses to Health insurance in Thailand
  1. Roger
    October 29, 2007 | 11:18 am

    You can take a local insurance
    see http://www.thaivisa.com for more info about expat life
    but you should know that the cost in Thailand are very low and if you are not of the type of being sick, you won’t need it often…

  2. talen
    October 29, 2007 | 12:29 pm

    Appreciate the information, I’ll definitely be looking into it…being sick I’m not too worried about it’s the unexpected motorcycle on the sidewalk :) .Thai Visa is an excellent resource.

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  4. tisort
    July 4, 2008 | 5:51 am

    good article

  5. Hypnosis Melbourne
    August 30, 2008 | 6:36 am

    Great site and helpful information, thanks!

  6. Albert
    November 13, 2008 | 5:17 am

    This is very interesting site…k