Tourist Visa/Health Insurance

Hi dsgittin,

Concerning your health insurance, i suggest you to ask a free quote to our partner in health insurance Chiang Mai.

https://www.expat.com/en/insurance/asia … hiang-mai/

I wish you good luck and i hope other members will be able to help you.

Christine

US citizens can enter Thailand visa exempt for a period of 30 days without leaving.  It will be a stamp you get upon arrival in Thailand at airport immigration. If you plan to stay longer I think you can still obtain tourist visa for free from Thai Consulate.  This will give you 60 days.

Unfortunately your age and pre-existing conditions will make most if not all health insurance expensive.  If this is just a visit you might look at travel insurance that covers health.  Its usually cheaper but limits number of days you can be out of country of issue.  You can also Google search for BUPA Thailand and check if they still offer a tourist policy that is good for several months.

Thank you both for your speedy replies.  I will try to get an accurate rate quote on the insurance and then crunch the numbers to see if I can still pull this off.  Even if the premiums run in the $1000/month range that would still leave me about $1500/month to live on, which should be more than adequate to live much better than I do now from what I've read.  Thanks, again.

dsgittin wrote:

First, at the risk of sounding too ignorant, do I need a tourist visa from the Thai consulate here before I get on the plane for Thailand, or am I reading some of these articles wrong?  I have never traveled internationally, but I thought you get on the plane with your passport and the passport gets stamped on arrival, which is your tourist visa.  Second, I need some good info/advice on health insurance.  I am 68 with preexisting conditions and the quote I got through Nordic seemed high.  This could be a deal breaker for me if I can't find something reasonable.

Hello D, Try looking up Globalsurance or Pacific Prime Insurance brokers. They deal with all the top insurance companies and they deal with providing the best health insurance plans to expats and international travelers. JW

Thanks JW.  I am in touch with Pacific Prime already.

dsgittin wrote:

Thanks JW.  I am in touch with Pacific Prime already.

Have you gone to this Thai site/ thaivisa.com/forum/topic/432409-i-am-writting-the-book-dark-sides-of-thailand/

Nope.  Will look.

I am at ThaiLife and they did not even request a medical examination.

gee wrote:

I am at ThaiLife and they did not even request a medical examination.

I think that is only for the life insurance that they do a medical in-house at their head office. Thailife is good however if you take the life insurance they throw the medical insurance in very cheaply. Its a type of annuity policy which is also a life insurance and accident insurance. If you live longer than the 20 years of the policy for which it is set then they refund your premiums.

Best of all they pay on time as I have used their accident insurance on 4 occasions...and no I don't own a motorbike, I just fall over all kinds of things!

I am unclear about your Thai trip. Are you planning a visit or are you planning to live in CM?

If this is a recon trip I would suggest you get a double entry tourist visa. This will allow you to stay 60 days, leave the country (you can get a bus to the Burma border and walk across) and return for another 60 days. Last fall they were granting that type of visa at no charge. I do not know if that is still the case.

If you are planning to try and live in Thailand it would be better to apply for a retirement visa. I no longer have current details on those, but you can obtain the necessary information and start that process in the States. Get the needed info and forms from the nearest Thai Consulate. Once you get a non immigrant visa you can do the rest of the work in Thailand. For example, the physical exam is much cheaper there than in the U.S.

Most of the people self-insure while in the Land of Smiles because hospitals and docs are so much more reasonable there. My wife was in hospital for 4 nights in a private room, I had the private room next to hers, and the bill including the surgeon was around $1200. I spoke with a rep from BUPA a few years ago and he told me he could fix me up with a hospitalization policy for around $900 per year. That's doable. I mean my Part B Medicare coverage is more than that.

Good luck. Maybeso see you there.

Bob