Close Menu
    South East Asia

    Thailand Medical Insurance and Health Insurance for Expats & Foreigners. Cost of LIving Part 2



    How to find the best and cheapest medical insurance / health insurance in Thailand as an expat or foreigner (for health insurance visa requirements or just for good health) can be confusing, whether you are in Thailand or out of the country and planning to live here. We look at how to find a good medical insurance plan (for Bangkok, Chiang Mai Phuket, Pattaya, etc), what are medical costs in Thailand, and we look at specific health insurance plans offered and discuss their pros and cons, and some cautions. This video is also Part Two of our Cost of Living series. Part One was housing, food & transportation. Now we explore health insurance and visa costs, and we total the cost of living.

    ⭐⭐Links for health insurance policies:

    ➡️For the OA / OX visa: https://misterprakan.com/th/lp/main?p=healthenvisa&lg=en&affid=AG7591

    ➡️The LTR visa: https://misterprakan.com/th/lp/main?p=healthltrvisa&lg=en&affid=AG7591

    ➡️And policies designed just for good coverage, not visa requirements: https://misterprakan.com/th/health/main?lg=en&affid=AG7591

    🟦 My process in selecting MisterPrakan is below at **

    🔴 SUBSCRIBE AND RING THE NOTIFICATION BELL 😊: https://www.youtube.com/@RetiredGlobalLife?sub_confirmation=1

    🟦 OUR OTHER VIDEOS YOU MIGHT LIKE 🟦
    🔴 The Real Cost of Living in Chiang Mai (and Thailand generally) https://youtu.be/_I56pgxJ-b4
    🛕 Start a New Life In Chiang Mai: 5 Keys to Happiness https://youtu.be/24e7zGQS58Q
    ❤️ Falling in Love in Chiang Mai https://youtu.be/fA2BR9-jchA
    ⭐ How much fun and food can we have for $20 in one day in Chiang Mai? https://youtu.be/vV7JFKctg2Y
    🍳 Best breakfast in Chiang Mai? https://youtu.be/XyN8fG9CdK4
    🦟 Never be bit by a mosquito again. Really! https://youtu.be/_utyv2gVQm0
    🛕 Chiang Mai Hidden Temple Hike https://youtu.be/pX6JjCrp2Gk
    🛕 Chiang Mai’s Hidden Treasures https://youtu.be/5pvm-d3KFcM

    🧑‍🎓 And check out Joy’s new channel: Thai with Joy (she is a great teacher!): https://youtu.be/5NhP38txyTU?si=rF7NRnAvd9MVFoAD

    Provider hospitals for each carrier:

    ➡️ AXA: https://www.axa.co.th/en/hospital-locator
    ➡️ Pacific Cross: https://www.pacificcrosshealth.com/en/hospital-network/

    🔴 Foreign health insurance certificate: https://thaiembdc.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/New-Foreign-Insurance-Certificate.pdf

    CHAPTERS:
    00:00 Introduction
    01:52 Non-OA and general info
    04:46 Non-OX
    05:22 LTR
    05:43 Non-O
    06:43 Cost of Medical Care
    08:41 Look at policies & prices
    21:16 Cost of Living Part 2

    **I am not an insurance agent, just someone who enjoys researching these topics for myself, then sharing what I learned. If you are in Thailand you can ask for recommendations from friends, study Google reviews, etc, in selecting an agent. Or you can contact MisterPrakan.com. My vetting process was as follows… I checked out many websites for various Thai insurers and found them confusing or incomplete, or not in English. I found MisterPrakan.com through a recommendation and was initially discouraged in not finding the kind of policies I was looking for. Once I finally got to the right place, I was thrilled with the clarity and simplicity. I knew I would need a specific website so I checked their Google reviews and saw they had a 3.7 (not bad, not great). But I factored in that insurance companies and hospitals rarely score well. For example, the Mayo Clinic, considered the #1 hospital in the world, has a Google review average of 3.9 and a TrustPilot score of only 1.5. With the MisterPrakan reviews I did a trick I often do with businesses to get what I think is a truer score. I eliminate all reviews that are one-review only people. If they are five-star I suspect them as fake, and if they are one-star I feel they are someone with an axe to grind. Looking at the remaining reviews to me is more accurate. But more than anything, I go by my own experience. When I emailed questions I got an immediate reply, in excellent English, and when I asked about specific policies, they not only told me what was good, but what was not. And they gave me a blunt assessment of insurers regarding which had better reputations in certain areas (strictly they look at pre-existing conditions, raising rates, cancelling at the end of a policy year, etc). Only fter doing all that did I ask to be an affiliate. This means at no cost to you, I get a small payment from them if someone buys a policy. I know affiliate relationships are commonplace for YouTubers, but still I want to be transparent. The time that goes into researching a topic, filming and editing it, and the travel and expenses of a travel channel are high, so small payments like this are welcome. BTW, if you notice, unlike most other YouTubers, I do not ask you for any $, not to Buy Me a Coffee, contribute to a Patreon account, or pay to join some Insider’s Club etc, and all that stuff that is so common.

    🎵 I get my music from EpidemicSound: share.epidemicsound.com/fuc72d

    #healthinsurance
    #medicalinsurance
    #chiangmai
    #thailand #2023 #bangkok #expat #foreigner

    20 Comments

    2. Dave Daniels on

      Good information. I'm most interested in the visa application process and applying for next year. How difficult and the cost of the process. Are most applications accepted without much hassle? Can you apply in Thailand? Thanks for your videos. My lady friend is also named Joy! 😊

    4. W H Rockey on

      Another great and informative video! You explain what can be fairly complex very well but that being said, it's important to do your homework. Thanks for doing all the heavy lifting on the costs.

    5. Christine Smithson on

      Thank you! You may have said this and I missed it in part 1 but I notice you showed only rental properties. Do expats tend to rent and not purchase homes in Thailand? Just curious in case someone plans on living there all or most of the year.

    6. Mike Futcher on

      Thanks for all the insurance info!! Good to know. Great your daughter is Hailey, I have watched many of her videos over the years.. I even contacted them about the elite visa which will end sept 15, very helpful staff..
      I am also from San Diego (Carlsbad) and will be going back to my girlfriend in September for two months. I’m 65 too and love to travel there the last 6 years

    9. Brian Dumont on

      Your daughter right now is working on getting me an Elite Visa (20 yrs.). Worth it to me. That said, I'm in Ca. myself right now, in Long Beach. I'll be moving to Chiang Mai next year, and visiting in October. Thanks for all you do!

    10. Barry Meadow on

      Very thorough analysis of what admittedly is not the most exciting topic in the world. Combined with Randy's other videos, you should have a pretty good idea of what things cost and what kind of budget you will need. Certainly, these videos save a lot of time since they do a lot of the research you'd have to do yourself. Bravo, Randy!

    15. Tom on

      Hi Randy, wow ,you worked so hard to produce this excellent video.
      For an international audience it's best just to do all in baht, I got exhausted converting as you quoted some costs.
      I'm afraid ,especially regarding visas, you'll have to do a second edition soon. The Elite visas are being completely revamped as we speak .
      The retirement visas will probably change soon as well ,making them more stringent .
      With regard to insurances, if they're part of a visa requirement those have to be assessed as visa costs . When you get into the questionairs of insurance companies and preexisting conditions are excluded you may find you paid a premium to get your visa but have difficulty claiming.
      The Non-O visa is the best option to be on without insurance requirement.
      In any case all visas will be revised soon which will make it a new ballgame .I think you'll be busy making more videos ..the only constant in life is change . One more remark, if you're over 75 and even if you can find an insurer the cost will probably be say around 140,000 baht with such deductibles and preexisting conditions that claiming will be a miracle, so purely an added visa cost.
      If over 80 , don't even mention it.
      There was some talk that you're allowed a visa if you park 3 million baht in a thai bank account as a self insured sum for medical emergencies .
      Certainly for US expats Thailand is still a viable option to retire in especially if youre reasonably healthy and you don't access claims more than the two times you quoted .Even if you do it's still a bargain compared to US medical costs. The issue for me is more about claims because that's when you find out if you can actually be reinbursed .
      That's why I said,reasonably healthy good,sickly and knocked back on a claim is purely a visa cost .
      I think if you're permanently retired in Thailand,not FIFO,which the adds to your budget for airfares, a nice lifestyle for an expat, say in Chiang mai where I live, can be had for about 60,000 baht a month.
      In Bangkok where rents are higher I would say maybe 80,000.
      This could include a couple of short holidays by the seaside unless that's where you're based.
      Now as a last remark, if you're on a retirement visa you're not retired in Thailand permanently, your security of tenure is a year at a time . Even on a marriage visa . On a long term Elite or LTR you got much more tenure depending which Elite you paid for( new products (October 1st,)
      Anyway, great video as always, keep up the good work!

    20. Philip B on

      hi, I'm moving to thailand soon. Should I get travel insurance before i get there then get a regular health insurance plan when I'm there?

    Leave A Reply