What options do you have for Health Insurance in Thailand?

1. Social Security

If your work is legal in Thailand and you have a valid work permit and non-b visa then you’re usually covered by social security. A person usually pays 5% of your salary but not 750 THB. The social security will assign you a public hospital where in you can receive treatment and medicine for free. The problem with this is that you are basically paying for this with long queues and bad service. Which is not always the case but probably 70 percent of the time, you will be getting the treatment you would expect from a public hospital in Thailand.

2. Self Insurance

This is where you use your savings to insure yourself. You have a specific amount of money allocated to emergency health and medical bills and while this is a smart idea, health insurance in Thailand is not that expensive if you just need basic health insurance.

3. Local Insurance

This is the most common type of private insurance you’ll encounter. They are offered by agents, brokers and banks. The very reason a person needs health insurance is to safe guard his or her finances against extreme cases like severe accidents or illnesses. Usually when you go to a broker, they would give you Health Insurance options that are well within your budget, admittedly the coverage will also depend on your budget but this is normal.

If you research and compare the insurance companies you will be able to find a good deal, that will suit your needs. Another big upside to getting local health insurance is that, most hospitals are used to dealing with them. So you don’t need to pay upfront anymore and the insurance company will deal with it. One of the most well-known companies in the Market is BUPA Thailand. It is widely accepted as well, but there are some good players that are coming into play that are offering more options like Pacific Cross, LMG, AXA, Aetna and MSH INTERNATIONAL. To compare them all you can quickly compare all the major insurance companies in Thailand : HERE.

The good thing about having health insurance is that you don’t need to worry in case you feel like your back is hurting and you don’t need to disregard your wellness as well. In the end health insurance is a choice and a smart one at that.