Health Insurance to enter Thailand

[billyhouston]

As someone who will turn 75 (early) next year, I have been looking at the options. One way seems to be the 20-year Elite Visa for Bht 1,000,000. I have been assured that this Visa does not require health insurance but I worry this could change. It's not much more than keeping Bht 800,000 in an account but, of course, the million Baht is gone for ever.

[goji]

As someone who will turn 75 (early) next year, I have been looking at the options. One way seems to be the 20-year Elite Visa for Bht 1,000,000.

Effectively there are two branches to this topic, with a VERY different set of options.
1 Health insurance to enter Thailand as a tourist
2 Health insurance to enter Thailand to reside in Thailand.

Discussing the two in one thread without distinction is going to lead to confusion.

I suspect the opening poster was asking about entering Thailand as a tourist, since someone unwilling to do a COE is hardly going to jump through the hoops required to become an expat.

Perhaps the thread ought to be split.

[billyhouston]

Yes, I should have made clear that I was not talking about COVID insurance. Having said that, COVID insurance is available at 75 and over, whereas Health Insurance can be quite a problem. Life in Thailand is becoming increasingly difficult for those of 'mature' years and, as it stands at present, the Elite Visa may be the only option if the Non-Imm type O were to require health insurance. One can but hope that never happens.

[francois]

Regarding Covid Insurance to enter Thailand in the amount of $100,000 USD; here is website recommended on aesianow.com by ubonjoe (expert).

https://www.tipinsure.com/CovidRegional/product_detail

Available up to 99 years old. Cost is not dependent on age but on length of stay from 4800 THB for 30 days to 43,200 THB for one year.

[Moses]

A friend has just told me that if u use a non Thai company it is up to the Thai embassy to accept or not

It depends on what exactly assistance company is serving your insurance police. If assistance has office in Thailand then your chances to get paper for to get on plan is about 100%. At least here it works like a charm. A lot of Russians already bought tours to Thailand for New Year holidays: Thailand and Egypt are two countries with "summer weather and sea" where is possible to get now easy. Also Cuba, but flight is long to much.

[Oliver2]

Here is the relevant paragraph from the Thai Embassy website.

"Unlike the mandatory health insurance for retirees, the COVID-19 insurance may be provided by an international insurance provider or by Thailand-based insurance providers. One of the COVID-19 insurance providers is AXA Thailand. They provide Inbound Travel Insurance for those who wish to secure Travel Insurance that covers COVID-19 as required for inbound travellers."

[bkkguy]

Here is the relevant paragraph from the Thai Embassy website.

perhaps the more relevant paragraph from the Thai Embassy website is:

ThaiEmbassy.com is not the official site of the Royal Thai Embassy and is not affiliated with the government of Thailand

and interested readers should continue on and read the rest of their Disclaimer page!

of course, I am not in any way suggesting that their choice of domain name "ThaiEmbassy.com" is in any way meant to be misleading, and I am sure most people who visit, recommend or quote from the web site understand the nature of its commercial operations and still consider their content worth passing on

and while I am not in any way suggesting that this web site is in any way making undeclared income from their recommendation of certain insurance companies, remember that it is always possible to contact the insurer directly rather than clicking on links on commercial web sites that may contain affiliate links

[christianpfc]

I was going to say the same as above. The address is (deliberately?) misleading, but no embassy would write things like:

Thai immigration officials are notoriously fastidious when it comes to paperwork,...
Although this could be seen as another opportunity to make some easy profits for the insurers...
Whilst it may seem like just yet another hassle for beleaguered foreigners wanting to enter the country,...

The public health ministry of Thailand has quoted a figure for unpaid hospital bills of 448 million Baht ($14.9M) for the year up to September 2019, a huge sum.

Negligible compared to the entire income from tourism. I never understood why politics enters economy. It's the business owner's duty to make sure he gets paid. There is no insurance for unpaid restaurant or hotel bills.

[bkkguy]

There is no insurance for unpaid restaurant or hotel bills.

you had to go and point this out didn't you!

should we start a quick straw poll on when some aspiring official will recommend this as a potential new policy to help rebuild the tourism sector?

[gerefan2]

Regarding Covid Insurance to enter Thailand in the amount of $100,000 USD; here is website recommended on aesianow.com by ubonjoe (expert).

https://www.tipinsure.com/CovidRegional/product_detail

Available up to 99 years old. Cost is not dependent on age but on length of stay from 4800 THB for 30 days to 43,200 THB for one year.

That site wants 12100 baht for a 90 day trip
AXA wants 7400 baht!

Haven’t read any of the small print but if it’s just for covid....