Health insurance now mandatory for long-stay foreigners

[PJG]

There would seem to be an error in the numbers quoted in the Nationmultimedia article. They quote the number of OA visa holders to be around 30+million for the last 3 years. That would seem to be ridiculous, the population of Thailand is around 70 million. Do not think that every other person in the street is a OA visa holder.

If this is indicative of the statistics the Insurance scheme is based on no wonder it is a complete and utter mess.

[Nereus]

I would be really interested to know just where 38 million O-A visa holders are hiding? That is more than 50% of the number of Thais in the country! Complete and utter BS!

[nil]

The whole thing is ridiculous. Apart from the made up statistics I really don’t think the hospitals are losing much money to western retirees, especially the private ones with their overinflated prices that more than compensate for any missed payments. Just try getting treatment in advance without showing insurance or paying cash. Although this seems for O-A visas for now it is surely coming to everyone else soon. And it looks like we will be forced to buy pre approved expensive and worthless policy’s that the government and insurance company’s have prepared for us.

[HHTel]

The article is also dated tomorrow the 16th. So the article doesn't actually exist yet!!

[oakdale160]

I think that you are correct about the "International" hospitals--B'grad BKK Hospital etc. They allow that they are only going to collect X% of what they bill to foreigners and adjust their charges accordingly. However, the Thai govt hospitals do not have as much ability to do this. I have heard farang complain that they were billed more than Thai patients. Of course this will happen, the Thai hospitals have to balance their books. So the well behaved farangs here, are subsidising the riff-raff, mostly short time tourists who abuse the system.

[Scout]

.... i have always had multiple re-entry,and never done a 90 day report.

Does this mean you always leave the country at least once every 90 days ? Or does having a multiple re-entry permit relieve a person from the 90 day reporting requirement ?

[Thistle]

Yes correct,it means i leave the country at least once every 90 days.

[buksida]

Mandatory health insurance for retirement visa holders likely to take effect in July
FOREIGNERS aged 50 and above living in Thailand on a long-stay visa will likely have to buy health insurance from July onwards, as authorities are preparing guidelines to enforce the new rules.

Approved by the Cabinet last month, the new regulation will require expats on the long-stay non-immigrant O-A visa to have health insurance that offers Bt40,000 coverage for outpatient treatment and Bt400,000 for inpatient.

The requirement was introduced because foreign expats have piled up unpaid medical bills of more than Bt300 million since 2016. “We will ask the Immigration Bureau, the Foreign Ministry and the Insurance Department for additional details and implementation guidelines next week,” Saowapa Jongkittipong, who leads the Health Service Support Department’s International Health Division, said yesterday.

http://www.nationmultimedia.com/detail/ ... l/30369468

[Dannie Boy]

Just found this on the internet


Mandatory health insurance for foreigners aged over 50 in Thailand - why it may not affect you


On Tuesday (14 May) it was reported that foreigners aged over 50 applying for a particular visa type now need mandatory health insurance.

The new requirements, which were approved by Cabinet in April and announced by the Ministry of Public Health (MoPH), state that people applying or renewing (or rather re-applying for) a Non-Immigrant Visa OA now need to have health insurance from either a Thai insurance company or from a policy bought overseas.

Following the announcement, Thaivisa has been inundated with comments, messages and emails from concerned expats, many of whom mistakenly think this requirement for mandatory health insurance affects them.

The requirement for mandatory health insurance appears to only affect those applying for a Non-Immigrant Visa OA.

According to the announcement on the Ministry of Public Health (MoPH) website, it does not affect anyone who stays in Thailand on an extension of stay based on retirement, which is often incorrectly referred to as a ‘retirement visa’.

Extensions of stay are not visas. Most retirees who stay in Thailand do so on an ‘extension of stay based on retirement’.

A Non-Immigrant Visa OA can only be applied for at Royal Thai Embassy or Consulate overseas.

Anyone who has a Non-Immigrant Visa OA typically applies for this at the Thai Embassy or Consulate in their home country.

An extension of stay based on retirement can only be obtained at an immigration office within Thailand.

It’s the extension of stay based on retirement which have recently been the subject of the much publicised change in the financial requirements which need to be met in order to be granted the extension.

To differentiate, a Non-Immigrant Visa OA looks like this:

imageproxy.jpg.bc50247cc9d5a3b0e5fb291c755dac24.jpg



An extension of stay based on retirement looks like this:

rv.jpg

The announcement made by the Ministry of Public Health does not appear to mention ‘extensions of stay based on retirement’, only that mandatory health insurance is a requirement for those applying for a Non-Immigrant Visa OA.

To also further put this recent announcement into context, back in November 2016, the Cabinet of Thailand approved its Non-Immigrant Visa OX - which was heralded as a ‘10 year retirement visa’.

The Non-Immigrant Visa OX, which was finally launched in August 2017, was actually two 5 year visas, and was aimed at affluent retirees from 14 countries including Australia, UK, USA, France and Germany.

As well as requiring 3 million baht in a Thai bank before application, it also had a requirement for mandatory health insurance.

In fact, the website listed in the announcement on 14 May 2019 - https://longstay.tgia.org/ - is the same website that was listed when the Non-Immigrant Visa OX was launched.

When the Non-Immigrant Visa OX was launched, despite it having a requirement for mandatory health insurance and despite it being a '10 year retirement visa', it did not mean that those same requirements were applied to expats staying in Thailand on an ‘extension of stay based on retirement’.

That wouldn't be the case because a Non-Immigrant Visa OX and an ‘extension of stay based on retirement’ are different things and have different requirements.

Just like a Non-Immigrant Visa OA and an ‘extension of stay based on retirement’ are different and have different requirements.

Now, it is not to say that other visa types or extensions of stay may be subject to having mandatory health insurance at some point in the future, but at this moment in time, it appears the new requirements only apply to those on Non-Immigrant Visa OA, and not extensions of stay based on retirement.

It is worth noting that while the mandatory health insurance requirements for Non-Immigrant Visa OA were approved in April, there is no information as to exactly when they will come into force or how the requirement will be implemented.

But it should be stressed that we are still awaiting clarification from Immigration regarding the interpretation and implementation of the new mandatory health insurance rules, including who exactly is affected.

Finally, if you are living in Thailand permanently, this should not deter from the fact that it is always recommended you have adequate health or medical insurance.

[nil]

There is a poster on another forum who claims he has a contact involved in all of this. Although his integrity was questioned he did say it was planned to start in July before the official announcement was made, so he was correct on that. He also said it was planned to roll this out to all types of long term visas so I would start getting prepared.

[Big Boy]

Come on man......
Share the deal with the rest of us......What company? Yearly cost? Does it even cover the stupidly high out-patient requirement..?

No, I'm an ageing overweight diabetic (blood sugar control excellent) - my quote is for me. The TGIA quotes 7 companies. You either have to speak to each of the 7 companies to get the right deal for you, or go to a broker such as AA Insurance.

My quote was 30,165 Baht/annum plus a BMI supplement of up to 30%. It gives me the required cover.

[Big Boy]

OK guys, please don't take this as gospel, but here is the cost chart for what I'm being offered. I am 63 years old. I accept there will be some exclusions (not known yet), but for those I'll be no better off than I was before the scheme, but I will be legal.

I can't emphasise enough, this is my offer, and we all have different circumstances. Either contact the companies on the TGIA link, or contact a broker.

Insurance.png (167.15 KiB) Viewed 804 times

[europtimiste]

The requirement of 40,000.00 for outpatients and 400,000.00 for inpatients is very low, this can be paid without insurance. Look at the high premiums set for older people. I will not pay this insurance mafia.

[Big Boy]

So, if the requirement comes in during July, do you have an alternative, or will you leave the country? (serious question by the way)

[HHTel]

As I've said previously. For those using the 800K method, the insurance is already covered in the required financials. I'm hoping that that will be accepted. The deposit is pretty much 'dead money' so it would be good if it could be put to use as a medical bond should it be needed. Makes sense.