General Reports

[TConor]

It's a video, HT.

Video does not reveal any new information. Thailand is already open for foreigners and it has been for some time. Most people just can't afford the time to spend 2 weeks in quarantine. The video does not say quarantine will be eliminated effective July 1.

Not without vaccines for the Thais and foreigners here. Other places will rule. Not to mention the airlines restrictions.

[Banana Boi]

It's a video, HT.

Video does not reveal any new information. Thailand is already open for foreigners and it has been for some time. Most people just can't afford the time to spend 2 weeks in quarantine. The video does not say quarantine will be eliminated effective July 1.

[HorseTrader]

Thailand will be opening up for poontang hungry warriors on July 1.

https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/thai...215603403.html

My device only displayed a single sentence of the article, which reads " With the #OpenThailandSafely campaign, organizers hope to welcome tourists back on July 1. ".

Apparently there are still steps to take place before the door to Thailand is opened wide. I do like Turgid's optimism, hope it really happens.

[Turgid]

Thailand will be opening up for poontang hungry warriors on July 1.

https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/thai...215603403.html

[Franciscass]

Franciscass,

Your observation is accurate for general health insurance but for the stand alone Covid cover I was talking about the premiums are not age age specific. Age 1 to 99 it's the same price. The only variables which affect the price seem to be country of origin and duration (I admit I haven't checked whether the "reason for visit" affects the premiums).

". rational thinking in immigration policy. " - hmmmm, may I remind you that This is Thailand?

Thanks for update. A retiree friend 76 years in UK waiting on his second jab is finding it particularly difficult getting affordable $100.000 Covid cover. 74 seems to be the standard cut off age for most providers. Your post suggests there are policies that solely cover covid and are priced the same irrespective of age. Not disagreeing with you if such is the case but it seems a little odd to me that as the risk of hospitalization is significantly higher as you up the age scale that premiums would not reflect this. No matter but if possible do you have a link where my friend might find such cover. It would be very much appreciated. Many thanks, Incidentally totally in sync with you on the intrinsic phobia towards outsiders.

[GettingFedUp]

Premiums vary hugely based on age and length of stay and can be prohibitively expensive for those 70 plus. Assuming some form of rational thinking in immigration policy one would imagine that certified vaccinated visitors with consequent little or no risk of being hospitalized should not need specific Covid 19 coverage.

Franciscass,

Your observation is accurate for general health insurance but for the stand alone Covid cover I was talking about the premiums are not age age specific. Age 1 to 99 it's the same price. The only variables which affect the price seem to be country of origin and duration (I admit I haven't checked whether the "reason for visit" affects the premiums).

". rational thinking in immigration policy. " - hmmmm, may I remind you that This is Thailand?

[LittleBigMan]

Yea, I agree that the tourism authority continues to come up with schemes to speed things along, yet nothing seems to happen. What caught my eye on this proposal was the PM said the Thai government would take a look at relaxing the Covid standards due to the extreme hit on the the overall economy. Of course, he could just be posturing and has no intention on relaxing policy in this regard. Sometimes, I think the government would prefer not to allow farangs in the country to the degree of the past decades or so in order to rid themselves of our 'corrupt' influences.

Although I live here I'm not a big fan of this guy or to be in general any of their leaders. My favorite name for him is " puppet man " that is exactly what he is! There are a number of political reasons why he was hand-picked leading and coming up with his own idea's I don't think is one of them.

As noted there is a lot of conversation going on about the fact that it is being brought up bright spot, in my opinion, hopefully, sooner than later he hears it enough will allow it to happen. When the time comes another major huddle aside from the 14-day quarantine is the insurance which has rarely been mentioned in the conversation maybe I miss something? Although I haven't checked in a while when I did look it wasn't as cheap as others have noted may be due to my age and my length of stay a 100,000 USD coverage for Covid, runs 140,000 baht at 30-1 ratio that equals $4600.00 for a one-year policy.

Yet for locals and even ex-pats they were selling policy within for 800-1500 baht coverage in general 100,000 baht if you go into a coma coverage 1-2 million baht includes death benefits. Then you got a recently passed to charge all passengers coming into the country another 300-600 baht buried in their ticket price to be used to promote tourism and cover tourist medical expenses if they have an accident and don't carry insurance. When it comes to insurance here they got the leaders deep in their pockets?

[Tomasb]

Yea, I agree that the tourism authority continues to come up with schemes to speed things along, yet nothing seems to happen. What caught my eye on this proposal was the PM said the Thai government would take a look at relaxing the Covid standards due to the extreme hit on the the overall economy. Of course, he could just be posturing and has no intention on relaxing policy in this regard. Sometimes, I think the government would prefer not to allow farangs in the country to the degree of the past decades or so in order to rid themselves of our 'corrupt' influences.

Thomasb,

This is another in a long line of proposals or recommendations from the tourism industry. They come up with a new one or rehashed previous one every month or so (remember the "Island Isolation" of Phuket, "Covid Corridors", bubbles and cuts in quarantine time.). So far the only ones that have gone through are Golf Quarantine which after months of debate has clocked up it's first visitors (about 30 of them) and a charter flight of assorted very wealthy people who rented an entire hotel at Cape Panwa, Phuket to serve their quarantine there rather than at an ASQ hotel.

Come 1st July less than half of the population will have had access to the vaccine even if the current timetable can be met. My view is the Government will continue with its hawkish view that the risk is not worth the rewards (and they and their cronies aren't big in tourism. They make their ill-gotten gains from other sectors such as infrastructure projects).

[Mr Enternational]

In the Bangkok Post today, it was reported today that a consortium of Thai tourism industry organizations recommended that Thailand open to tourists beginning July 1st as long as the tourists have proof of vaccination cards, a Covid test within 72 hours of departure, and international health insurance.

Unfortunately that is not saying anything. You could have written them 6 months ago and made the same recommendation and it would have carried the same weight. When you see it in the Royal Gazette, that is when you make your bet.

[Franciscass]

Other durations are available and from a quick glance the premiums seem roughly pro rata to duration so a 30 day policy from high risk countries is just under THB 5,000 and 60 days THB 8,600.

Premiums vary hugely based on age and length of stay and can be prohibitively expensive for those 70 plus. Assuming some form of rational thinking in immigration policy one would imagine that certified vaccinated visitors with consequent little or no risk of being hospitalized should not need specific Covid 19 coverage.

[GettingFedUp]

This does not seem too expensive. For travelers from high risk countries that's only 135 baht per day. Even if you buy a 90-day policy but only stay 30 days, its just 405 baht per day. If that covers my hospital bill for a false positive COVID test, I'm happy to have paid the money.

Other durations are available and from a quick glance the premiums seem roughly pro rata to duration so a 30 day policy from high risk countries is just under THB 5,000 and 60 days THB 8,600.

[GettingFedUp]

In the Bangkok Post today, it was reported today that a consortium of Thai tourism industry organizations recommended that Thailand open to tourists beginning July 1st as long as the tourists have proof of vaccination cards, a Covid test within 72 hours of departure, and international health insurance.

Thomasb,

This is another in a long line of proposals or recommendations from the tourism industry. They come up with a new one or rehashed previous one every month or so (remember the "Island Isolation" of Phuket, "Covid Corridors", bubbles and cuts in quarantine time.). So far the only ones that have gone through are Golf Quarantine which after months of debate has clocked up it's first visitors (about 30 of them) and a charter flight of assorted very wealthy people who rented an entire hotel at Cape Panwa, Phuket to serve their quarantine there rather than at an ASQ hotel.

Come 1st July less than half of the population will have had access to the vaccine even if the current timetable can be met. My view is the Government will continue with its hawkish view that the risk is not worth the rewards (and they and their cronies aren't big in tourism. They make their ill-gotten gains from other sectors such as infrastructure projects).

[HorseTrader]

With regard to the Covid specific insurance the Thai General Insurance Association (TGIA) has a web-portal where you can obtain a quote for it. Premiums for 90 days cover currently vary from THB 3,840 for "low risk" (my term) countries such as Australia to THB 12,160 for "high risk" countries (USA, UK, France etc.).

This does not seem too expensive. For travelers from high risk countries that's only 135 baht per day. Even if you buy a 90-day policy but only stay 30 days, its just 405 baht per day. If that covers my hospital bill for a false positive COVID test, I'm happy to have paid the money.

[GettingFedUp]

On international health insurance-- it depends what they'll accept for that in this case, there are a lot of travel insurance services out there that have some pretty damn cheap rates for travel health insurance.

The insurance requirement is for $100,000 of cover specifically for Covid. For "normal" health insurance policies as ever with Thai bureaucracy interpretation and enforcement seems to vary between Embassies and Consulates but the general principle is that the policy wording must explicitly state that this cover is included (so a lack of exclusion of Covid is not sufficient). I have heard tell of some missions accepting a letter from the insurer stating the cover is included although not specifically mentioned in the policy wording, others not doing so.

One nasty little catch-22 with using blanket health insurance for the Covid cover is if someone tests positive but is asymptomatic. In Thailand if you test positive you are going to hospital even if asymptomatic. That's just the way it is. Where there is a hospital there is inevitably a hospital bill. There are reports of international insurers refusing claims with the thought process of "If you didn't have symptoms then you didn't need hospitalization" leaving the unfortunate policy holder out of pocket.

With regard to the Covid specific insurance the Thai General Insurance Association (TGIA) has a web-portal where you can obtain a quote for it. Premiums for 90 days cover currently vary from THB 3,840 for "low risk" (my term) countries such as Australia to THB 12,160 for "high risk" countries (USA, UK, France etc.). For other countries you can look it up for yourselves. Hopefully as infection rates come under control in the outside world then countries will be reclassified into the lower premium levels. No, I am not on commission from them.

[GrapeMan]

In the Bangkok Post today, it was reported today that a consortium of Thai tourism industry organizations recommended that Thailand open to tourists beginning July 1st as long as the tourists have proof of vaccination cards, a Covid test within 72 hours of departure, and international health insurance.

For what it's worth, these international insurance premiums can be pretty high, albeit you only need it for the length of your stay. However, many of us travel to international destinations without any health insurance as our domestic policies generally do not cover international hospital visits, drugs, etc. If an unfortunate health event occurs, it can have devastating financial consequences so perhaps making sure you have adequate coverage is a good idea for all circumstances, not only Covid. The biggest cost can be a situation requiring that you return to your home country for treatment. These medivac transfer costs are enormous.

Great news on this! Hoping it works out!

On international health insurance-- it depends what they'll accept for that in this case, there are a lot of travel insurance services out there that have some pretty damn cheap rates for travel health insurance (which is sometimes part of a bigger package of insurance), its actually a good pickup for many people doing travel since the cost is often pretty low especially compared to if anything happens to you. I generally buy an inexpensive travel health insurance when I go abroad for a longer period, just not worth the hassle of not having it.