Jun wrote: ↑Mon Aug 14, 2023 3:58 pm
I would like to understand this properly, as here in the UK we have a communist state healthcare system, funded by taxes & I'm not so familiar with health insurance.
There are so many variations about health insurance that any one explanation won't do it. The basic explanation is the amount you pay for it depends on many variables:
1. Whether the insurance company is willing to insure you in the first place, usually depending on your age when you first buy it and where you live.
2. What kind of policy and coverage you choose - and there are a great many choices and each insurance company offers their own choices.
3. How much of a deductible you have. If you don't know what a deductible is, it is the amount you have to pay the hospital, doctor, or whatever first, and then the insurance pays the rest. In other words, Dodger says his deductible is 40,000 baht. If he gets a hospital bill of 100,000 baht, he will have to pay 40,000 baht and his insurance will pay 60,000 baht. If his total bill is less than 40,000 baht, then he has to pay all of it.
4. Whether your insurance will pay the hospital directly or whether you have to pay the whole bill first and then wait for the insurance company to reimburse you.
5. Whether there are any exclusions. For example, if you have some sort of preexisting medical problem and it arose before you bought your insurance, the insurance company might exclude coverage for that problem. I remember seeing one insurance company that will exclude any injuries caused by a dog if you own a pit bull.
6. Whether you have choice of hospital or you have to go to a hospital the insurance company designates.
I'm sure there are more, but those are the ones occurring to me at the moment. The point is finding the right medical insurance policy for you is quite a complicated procedure and requires a great deal of shopping around.
I consider myself very fortunate to have my policy with Cigna Global expat insurance. I am covered anywhere in the world except my home country. Which hospital I go to is entirely up to me, but they do have a list of their preferred hospitals. In Pattaya their preferred hospital is Bangkok-Pattaya Hospital. It is my preference too. In Bangkok there are several. Bumrungrad Hospital is one of their preferred hospitals.
They pay the hospital directly. I only have to pay the deductible. And if it is an ongoing procedure, several times a year, I only have to pay the deductible once a year, not every visit.
How much I pay for my insurance has been going up about 9% per year, but I have no complaints about their price. Also, I opted for a very low deductible. If the premiums start to get difficult, I can always go to a higher deductible and reduce the cost of the premiums that way.
My insurance will cover me, no age limit, as long as I pay the premiums. I am covered up to US $1-million per year.
I had a farang friend who was looking for medical insurance. His preexisting condition was HIV. He was in his early 80s. Cigna Global was willing to insure him for about US $10,000 per year, which he could pay annually, semi-annually, quarterly, or monthly - his choice.
I have no idea how it works for you in the UK or what you have to do to see a doctor or get admitted to a hospital. If it is entirely tax-based, I also have no idea how much that portion of your taxes costs.
