Health Insurance

[stednick]

If you could predict the future you would not be concerned with health insurance. You would know exactly what you need and could plan accordingly. The problem with health insurance is the unknown. Is it "cost effective"? Yes it is ... provided you get a disease, infection or are involved in an accident. On the flip side ... it is a total waste of money if you do not need it. So ... roll the dice.

A couple of guarantees; population growth will continue to provide the insurance companies with an ever increasing customer base (a greater pool to select from), health insurance costs and premiums will continue to rise, as people age they require increasing medical care, technical advances in medicines and medical procedures will increase life spans, it is impossible to predict the future, it is impossible to assign a monetary value to an individual's life as it is impossible to monetize quality-of-life.

So, all-in-all, you are rolling the dice. Regardless of the method you choose to plan for your future health care needs and/or requirements, a time will come when sustaining your life is cost prohibitive. The more philosophical question is based on your quality of life and whether you or your heirs believe your quality of life is "good enough" to justify the expense of sustaining it.

Concerning my retirement medical insurance; I will make my "formal" decision based on the size of my nest egg (feasible to self-insure), and the cost of medical premiums versus the coverage and limitations of the specific policies available.

I do keep in mind that a serious illness, disease or accident can result in tens or possibly hundreds of thousands of dollars, or tens of millions of Baht in related medical charges.

Medical insurance; Truly a question that only the individual can answer. Analyze your options and select carefully. Good luck.

[CSI Texas]

Mikecwm,

I like your idea of puting away the annual preiums into a savings and starting the account off with a good size deposit. One never knows when they will get sick but this sounds better than the preiums going up each year you grown older until you no longer can make the payments then your SOL. I will be 70 in 6 months so will probably go this route when we retire.

[hadi8253]

Originally Posted by stednick

If you could predict the future you would not be concerned with health insurance. You would know exactly what you need and could plan accordingly. The problem with health insurance is the unknown. Is it "cost effective"? Yes it is ... provided you get a disease, infection or are involved in an accident. On the flip side ... it is a total waste of money if you do not need it. So ... roll the dice.

A couple of guarantees; population growth will continue to provide the insurance companies with an ever increasing customer base (a greater pool to select from), health insurance costs and premiums will continue to rise, as people age they require increasing medical care, technical advances in medicines and medical procedures will increase life spans, it is impossible to predict the future, it is impossible to assign a monetary value to an individual's life as it is impossible to monetize quality-of-life.

So, all-in-all, you are rolling the dice. Regardless of the method you choose to plan for your future health care needs and/or requirements, a time will come when sustaining your life is cost prohibitive. The more philosophical question is based on your quality of life and whether you or your heirs believe your quality of life is "good enough" to justify the expense of sustaining it.

Concerning my retirement medical insurance; I will make my "formal" decision based on the size of my nest egg (feasible to self-insure), and the cost of medical premiums versus the coverage and limitations of the specific policies available.

I do keep in mind that a serious illness, disease or accident can result in tens or possibly hundreds of thousands of dollars, or tens of millions of Baht in related medical charges.

Medical insurance; Truly a question that only the individual can answer. Analyze your options and select carefully. Good luck.

Thanks for your answer. I did analyze but selected probably the wrong.
Too late to start over ...

[stednick]

hadi8253:

A thread titled "medical insurance" is located in the basement lounge section of this Thailand Ex-pat forum. On 12JUN12 Mr. Cooke responded to the thread and graciously shared a PDF file which showed the medical insurance quotations he received. I believe they were for a 64 yo Ex-Pat in Thailand, coverage date: FEB12

I believe Mr. Cooke used a broker, as identified on the PDF file as Rafael Ackermann rafael@pacificprime.com Tel: (+86) 21 6445 4592 ext. 121 Mobile (+86) 139 1675 5947

You may want to contact him to discuss your situation. As I have not used him, I cannot endorse him, however, he does appear to be a broker of Ex-Pat Insurance. He should be an expert it what is available to us Ex-Pats regarding insurance and he should be able to provide you with incite, details and suggestions about what will be the best fit for you and your wife.

Just to expand on the insurance questions, in my experience, it is almost impossible to compare "apples-to-apples" when it comes to insurance plans. Every individual and situation is different and finding the best fit for insurance is a complex derivation. To select correctly you either need to be downright lucky, an insurance professional, or a self-taught expert (requires a ridiculous amount of hours of investigation and study).

So, really, you need to seek an experts opinion to make the correct choices.

Once again, I would like to thank Mr. Cooke for sharing the information he received with us all. Thank You.

hadi8253, I hope this helps and good luck either in resolving this dilemma or at least satisfying yourself that you are being treated fairly and responsibly.

[cooked]

Originally Posted by stednick

hadi8253:

A thread titled "medical insurance" is located in the basement lounge section of this Thailand Ex-pat forum. On 12JUN12 Mr. Cooke responded to the thread and graciously shared a PDF file which showed the medical insurance quotations he received. I believe they were for a 64 yo Ex-Pat in Thailand, coverage date: FEB12

I believe Mr. Cooke used a broker, as identified on the PDF file as Rafael Ackermann rafael@pacificprime.com Tel: (+86) 21 6445 4592 ext. 121 Mobile (+86) 139 1675 5947

You may want to contact him to discuss your situation. As I have not used him, I cannot endorse him, however, he does appear to be a broker of Ex-Pat Insurance. He should be an expert it what is available to us Ex-Pats regarding insurance and he should be able to provide you with incite, details and suggestions about what will be the best fit for you and your wife.

Just to expand on the insurance questions, in my experience, it is almost impossible to compare "apples-to-apples" when it comes to insurance plans. Every individual and situation is different and finding the best fit for insurance is a complex derivation. To select correctly you either need to be downright lucky, an insurance professional, or a self-taught expert (requires a ridiculous amount of hours of investigation and study).

So, really, you need to seek an experts opinion to make the correct choices.

Once again, I would like to thank Mr. Cooke for sharing the information he received with us all. Thank You.

hadi8253, I hope this helps and good luck either in resolving this dilemma or at least satisfying yourself that you are being treated fairly and responsibly.

I should add that the quotes are for International insurance, so there may be an interest in reducing the coverage to Thailand, travel insurance is always available.

[bkk]

I have never bought health insurance but have instead saved money so that I can pay for healthcare needs myself. I also eat a healthy diet and exercise regularly. I think this is the best option. Even with insurance many companies won't pay for what you actually need because you either don't meet their criteria or you want treatment that they don't offer.

And, as the OP has found out, they will keep upping the premium until you can't afford it. It's mostly a waste of money.

[JWilliamson]

Originally Posted by bkk

I have never bought health insurance but have instead saved money so that I can pay for healthcare needs myself. I also eat a healthy diet and exercise regularly. I think this is the best option. Even with insurance many companies won't pay for what you actually need because you either don't meet their criteria or you want treatment that they don't offer.

And, as the OP has found out, they will keep upping the premium until you can't afford it. It's mostly a waste of money.

I do believe in your plan of eating healthy and exercising. I do both but I still have had a history of needing dental work. I am from USA and I have had a history of needing my cavities fixed even though I brush 2 to 4 times everyday. Dental work is expensive and when I moved to Hong Kong some five years ago I did get insurance for this. Also I did get a health insurance plan which actually was very inexpensive due to having a bigger co-payment. I got this plan through Globalsurance (Insurance Broker)after looking and asking around for information. Two years after getting this plan i needed a hernia Operation and I have never used any insurance myself cause I have been generally healthy. I called Globalsurance and they helped me find a local doctor and helped me do all the paper work. Most of the paper work I had no idea where to start. I saw the doctor and he informed me of the Hospital then I informed Globalsurance and they talked to the insurance company and some weeks later I checked into the hospital. I was told that I was going to meet the insurance agent at the check in at the hospital. When I arrived the agent was there and the agent talked to the head nurse at the counter. I was looking to get a room with one other patient but the agent told me I can get a Private room all to myself and I was happy about that. I got a room like a huge hotel room with all the comforts and cable TV!. All went well and much easier then I ever thought. Also BTW my dental plan I have used many times and that too went well and easy. JW

[stednick]

Originally Posted by JWilliamson

I called Globalsurance and they helped me find a local doctor and helped me do all the paper work. Most of the paper work I had no idea where to start. I saw the doctor and he informed me of the Hospital then I informed Globalsurance and they talked to the insurance company and some weeks later I checked into the hospital. I was told that I was going to meet the insurance agent at the check in at the hospital. When I arrived the agent was there and the agent talked to the head nurse at the counter. I was looking to get a room with one other patient but the agent told me I can get a Private room all to myself and I was happy about that. I got a room like a huge hotel room with all the comforts and cable TV!. All went well and much easier then I ever thought.

It is a great benefit (almost priceless) to have someone take care of the medical details involved in a hospital stay, operation, and/or ANY serious medical issue.

It is an almost impossible task to protect your interests when you are in pain, incapacitated or unable to understand the implications of the decisions you must make. Such as a foreigner dealing with a foreign language's written medical and legal lingo.

You do need a trusted advocate who is knowledgeable in all aspects of the foreign medical system. A reasonable medical insurance plan will provide this along with the peace-of-mind you need for a full recovery.

Mr. Williamson. thanks for your story.

[owenjones]

Originally Posted by hadi8253

In 2001 (58 years old) I chose Bupa Thailand as my health insurance. The benefit plan (Ruby), the guaranty of “life time” if I pay yearly my premium, the yearly amount for my premium, all this seemed to be OK.

It worsened in 2006 (63y). The premium raised yearly, in 2009 when I became 66 by almost 20 % also I did not make any claim. During the last 6 years the premium has almost doubled!
According to Bupa “medical inflation” and/or “age band” is responsible for the increase. My repeated question how much I will have to pay next year, when I will become 70 has after 9 (nine !) emails not yet been answered.

And it became really bad: My wife also insured by Bupa since 2001, never made a claim had a premium raise at 37,25 % when her age changed from 55 to 56 years.

The promise of “renewal is guaranteed for life” is easy done by Bupa. Bupa will raise the premium every year without any warning until you will be happy to leave this company …

Google expats club Pattaya; go to their page and look up health insurance.

There are at least two schemes (one is for over 65).
I am 58 and pay 24k Baht a year.
They are corporate schemes so everyone pays the same regardless of claims, but premiums have risen a lot (doubled) in seven years.

Owen

[MisterB]

We are aslo assured by Bupa and effectively the premliums rised but they are quite affordable and we had some claims, Bupa paid without problem. We have a friend assured by AIA, the premiums are more expensive, quite a lot more, and AIA does not pay well. Friend's wife is in hospital since 4 months and had three operations for a colon cancer. At that time AIA refused to pay, even for the room, the bills never match the insurance requirements. They said they may be will pay for the room but not for the operations and the drugs. At that time friends spent 600'000 bath. Same for another claim from him, AIA said the guy had hight blood pressure and did not mentioned it. He had blood pressure after an intervention at the hospital, but never before.... Be happy with Bupa or book an international insurance but the premiums are not the same.

Originally Posted by hadi8253

In 2001 (58 years old) I chose Bupa Thailand as my health insurance. The benefit plan (Ruby), the guaranty of “life time” if I pay yearly my premium, the yearly amount for my premium, all this seemed to be OK.

It worsened in 2006 (63y). The premium raised yearly, in 2009 when I became 66 by almost 20 % also I did not make any claim. During the last 6 years the premium has almost doubled!
According to Bupa “medical inflation” and/or “age band” is responsible for the increase. My repeated question how much I will have to pay next year, when I will become 70 has after 9 (nine !) emails not yet been answered.

And it became really bad: My wife also insured by Bupa since 2001, never made a claim had a premium raise at 37,25 % when her age changed from 55 to 56 years.

The promise of “renewal is guaranteed for life” is easy done by Bupa. Bupa will raise the premium every year without any warning until you will be happy to leave this company …