Transcript of the above video: 

As the title of this video suggests, we are discussing insurance requirements and the Thailand Pass. The question posed is “could we see an end to Thailand Pass with insurance remaining a requirement?” I know both Thailand Pass and insurance are not particularly popular among the expat community at the moment but the analysis here is "could we end up in a situation where there is no longer a Thailand Pass but you have the insurance requirements?"  

The reason I got to think about making this came from a recent article in the Pattaya Mail, pattayamail.com, the article is titled: Compulsory Insurance could survive abolition of Thailand Pass. Quoting directly: "The Ministry of Tourism and the Tourist Association of Thailand are recommending an end to pre-registration for arrivals from July 1 but with an added headache for Airlines and Airport Immigration. That is because vaccination status paperwork and proof of anti-COVID insurance worth at least US $10,000 would need to be shown by the passenger either at check-in or on arrival in Thailand, probably both. It had been widely assumed that the expected end of Thailand Pass yet to be agreed by the Cabinet, would mean the automatic ditching of the insurance requirements for tourists. Such policies may cost between 700 Baht and 11,000 Baht for one month but the cheaper ones are considered worthless and are simply a disguised entry tax. Neighbouring countries such as Cambodian and Vietnam have already scrapped the insurance demand in an attempt to win extra market share of overseas visitors." Yeah, I feel much the same way about insurance at this point as I feel about Thailand Pass. It's really pretty well time we just be done with it because I don't even exactly quite understand what we are ensuring to do at this point. At the same time when looking at this from a tourism sector perspective, if I am a tourism operator I want to see that insurance gone again because I am competing with Vietnam and Cambodia for tourists and guess what, they don't have this requirement. 

So I think it would be very much in the interest of Thailand and the tourism sector to probably get rid of this at this point especially if you are going to get rid of the Thailand Pass. The other problem is these Airlines throughout this whole situation, they have to see all documentation is letter perfect because they don't want to drop someone off in Thailand and be told "Hey that guy he doesn't have X, Y, Z. You need to take him home and by the way that is on your dime airline, you have got to take that person back." Especially at a time when I am sure airlines are running on pretty thin margins, these requirements hit pretty hard. So I definitely think Thailand Pass has to go and with it I think really basically all these requirements should go as well. At the point of which this is considered endemic, the Emergency Decree is at an end, we are just back to status quo ante. It is back to whatever it was February 2020 here in Thailand.