Originally Posted by
Seekingasylum
It is clear that the mandatory health insurance requirement will be required of everyone over 50 legally resident in the Kingdom, either on an annual O-A visa or extension. If it is right that an inability to submit evidence of a qualifying insurance policy will ensure failure of any application to remain or will nullify an existing extension then I should imagine that after implementation of the new requirement the thousands currently benefiting from existing extensions will be asked to produce evidence of a qualifying policy when they next attend for their 90 day report.
The thing is, as I have already alluded in earlier comments, the suggested medical cover is in fact useless to most farang but it is extremely bad value in offering insurance to the value of a a limited sum only a mere ten times the premium. The only institution I have found who will offer a policy meeting immigration requirements is the Kasikorn Bank - 30,000 baht premium for cover limited to 500,000 baht. That is appalling value. The problem of course is that over-60s are subject to so many exclusions, limitations and caveats that a decent policy offering any sort of cover acceptable in the real world would ensure a minimum premium of around 150,000 - 200,000 baht. After you hit 70 then you are pretty much uninsurable.
This is the thin end of the wedge for most retirees who must now consider that to settle here it will more than likely entail a bond deposit of around 2 million baht in addition to evidence of income covering the ordinary daily living expenses. That in practice is the way things are going.