Health Insurance

[poshglasgow]

Many Europeans of a certain age pull back the curtains in January in their home countries, take one look at the horizontal sleet and dream of escaping to Thailand. For some it is a dream that will never be realised. For others it is within grasp. And then...we come to the vexed issue of health insurance.

I am mid-sixties and currently pay £150 a month for private health care in the UK. I know for sure that many of you who do live in Thailand pay considerably more, but how much more? I suspect four times, five times, as much as you would in the UK?

Some keep a property in the UK to which they can return quickly if they do not have health insurance in Thailand but suspect that medically there is a concern (in much the same way, I suppose, that you would get on the first plane to Bangkok if you were in Cambodia and something demanded immediate medical investigation. Any thoughts/experiences/recommendations?

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[Gaybutton]

I don't mean to come to this board to tout my own, but not long ago we had a 9 page topic covering this same issue. I suggest reading it - all of it. I think you'll find the answers you're seeking.

http://www.gaybuttonthai.com/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=8622

[frequent]

I am mid-sixties and currently pay £150 a month for private health care in the UK. I know for sure that many of you who do live in Thailand pay considerably more, but how much more? I suspect four times, five times, as much as you would in the UK?

The cost of premiums can be readily found here. These are the costs for the mandatory health insurance for the new 10-year visa. I imagine those not on the visa may be able to get coverage for the same price. Personally I have access to a ready supply of Nembutal, the drug of choice for those of us who believe that we have a Right To Death

[Brad the Impala]

I am mid-sixties and currently pay £150 a month for private health care in the UK.

I wonder how much actual cover you are receiving at that relatively low rate. Useful to know if you are thinking of comparative cover in Thailand. The devil in most new policies is in the exclusions for pre-existing conditions, since those are often the priority for which you most want cover!

[poshglasgow]

I don't mean to come to this board to tout my own, but not long ago we had a 9 page topic covering this same issue. I suggest reading it - all of it. I think you'll find the answers you're seeking.

http://www.gaybuttonthai.com/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=8622

Many thanks, I'll read the posts.

[Nirish guy]

Just in case it's of any use or interest to anyone who's with BUPA, if you're still working ( and self employed or well in with your boss) you can start a "company policy" for as little as only two people and I was actually able to get better cover for two cheaper than my own existing personal cover with them for one !

This was quietly made known to me by one of their sales staff after I told them i was leaving to go elsewhere as I'd sourced cheaper cover and they told me that "they" couldn't compete, but rather than BUPA lose the business they'd get their business team to call me and within two days it was all set up and running. Apparently the business and personal divisions are two totally different sides of the BUPA tree and so can and do operate in a different ( more competitive ?) marketplace and so can and do offer different rates for ultimately the same service.

As already mentioned above the problem with moving is the buggers get you on "pre existing conditions" and as we get older it's almost impossible NOT to have something there re that, plus of course if you dont declare something and then try to claim for it later if it's large enough amount the buggers will trawl through your medical records in the hope of finding "something" so they can scream "AHH HA ! you didn't declare you'd a bad knee for a day in 1985 so accordingly we're not going to cover your bad arm in 2018 as it could all be connected !" Bastardos the lot of them I find mainly, but with the NHS on it's knees these days here in the UK I'm not sure what else there is one can do here re that ! :-(

Anyway, that's my tip in case anyone else finds that of use to make a fairly hefty saving.

[poshglasgow]

Just in case it's of any use or interest to anyone who's with BUPA, if you're still working ( and self employed or well in with your boss) you can start a "company policy" for as little as only two people and I was actually able to get better cover for two cheaper than my own existing personal cover with them for one !

This was quietly made known to me by one of their sales staff after I told them i was leaving to go elsewhere as I'd sourced cheaper cover and they told me that "they" couldn't compete, but rather than BUPA lose the business they'd get their business team to call me and within two days it was all set up and running. Apparently the business and personal divisions are two totally different sides of the BUPA tree and so can and do operate in a different ( more competitive ?) marketplace and so can and do offer different rates for ultimately the same service.

As already mentioned above the problem with moving is the buggers get you on "pre existing conditions" and as we get older it's almost impossible NOT to have something there re that, plus of course if you dont declare something and then try to claim for it later if it's large enough amount the buggers will trawl through your medical records in the hope of finding "something" so they can scream "AHH HA ! you didn't declare you'd a bad knee for a day in 1985 so accordingly we're not going to cover your bad arm in 2018 as it could all be connected !" Bastardos the lot of them I find mainly, but with the NHS on it's knees these days here in the UK I'm not sure what else there is one can do here re that ! :-(

Anyway, that's my tip in case anyone else finds that of use to make a fairly hefty saving.

One of the reasons why I, as an individual client, moved away from BUPA, as there was no doubt in my mind that they favoured company schemes rather than individuals.

Totally agree about the state of the NHS in this country: Aneurin Bevan must be turning on his hospital trolley!

[gerefan2]

This was quietly made known to me by one of their sales staff after I told them i was leaving to go elsewhere as I'd sourced cheaper cover and they told me that "they" couldn't compete, but rather than BUPA lose the business they'd get their business team to call me and within two days it was all set up and running. Apparently the business and personal divisions are two totally different sides of the BUPA tree and so can and do operate in a different ( more competitive ?) marketplace and so can and do offer different rates for ultimately the same service.

Any company will trot out that shit! It’s standard practice. Try telling BT you want to move....they will move heaven and earth to keep you.

Tell any Insurance company you’ve found a cheaper quote and they will squirm to keep you. Deductions for this, deductions for that...etc etc.

And after all BUPA is just another Insurance company.

[Nirish guy]

Any company will trot out that shit! It’s standard practice.

Whilst I dont disagree with you in general my point was in this case Bupa the private policy side of the company COULDNT and wouldn't match my other quote and wished me all the best, it was only as I was working through a broker who was pissed at losing my regular business that he and one person in BUPA came up with that plan and once I switched across to the corporate scheme EVERYTHING had to change, different office to deal with, difference direct debit needing set up, complete new set of paperwork etc, this wasn't a case of appearing to move the goalposts just to keep a client, it was a specific change on my part that enabled my to keep my pre-existing conditions list in place without having to update with a new provider and obviously if I hadn't of been in a position to open a company policy they couldn't have opened that for me anyway, so in this case not quite the same thing as when Sky TV etc, appear to give extra discounts etc just to keep their customers on board perhaps.

[goji]

Centrally controlled state run monopolies were tried in Eastern Europe & completely failed by the 1980s. People had to queue for everything, including basics like food.

For some reason, the British population still expect the same hopeless structure to work in the UK with healthcare. What we actually have is severe mis-allocation of capital, since the capital is allocated by politicians who could not run a bath, never mind any type of business. That's the first problem with state control -the management will be incompetent.
Healthcare will continue to be a problem area until the UK has some effective competition in the healthcare sector.


As for health insurance, I'm keen to know as much about it as possible, since I figure relying on the NHS in old age would be a very bad idea. So another thread on the insurance topic is to be encouraged.

As a tourist, it's kind of quite nice to be able to wander into a private Thai hospital & get treatment at a fraction of the underlying UK cost, in a hospital that's obviously way cleaner than the NHS facilities.