Transcript of the above video:

As the title of this video suggests, we are discussing O Retirement Visas and Insurance. I got to thinking of this when reading a recent article from the Pattaya Mail, that's pattayamail.com, the article is titled: Future of compulsory medical insurance for visitors to Thailand still cloudy. Quoting directly: "Although Government websites speak currently of the need to obtain cover for the whole of the proposed stay, it is enough for the Thailand Pass pre-registration bureaucracy and the vital QR code to have just one month of anti-COVID cover. Indeed, the Thai General Insurance Association website will register you only for 30 days, merely stating you can renew once here if needs be. But extensions of stay in most cases do not require evidence of ongoing Medical cover. So very few people bother."  

In the context to this, and I urge folks watching this to go check out that article and read it in detail but the context of this generally speaking I think we are talking about O retirees, folks that are using the O Retirement Visa status which does not presently have an insurance requirement. Meanwhile that is different from the O-A Retirement Visa, I am making a video contemporaneously with this one discussing that more in detail and we will get that out as soon as possible as well. But the thing to take away from this video, presently there does not seem to be anything on the horizon which is suggesting that folks are going to need ongoing insurance coverage in order to maintain O Retirement Visa status. 

That being said as noted in that excerpt, it is a requirement to have a certain amount of COVID cover in order to enter Thailand presently under the so-called Thailand Pass system even under the proposals to end a lot of this Test & Go and Thailand Pass, I think it is likely we may see an insurance requirement remain at least for the foreseeable months and it will just be "okay you have got to get that, it is just something you have to present when you come through Thai Immigration upon arrival". That being said, I could be wrong but the thing to take away from this video for O retirees, O Retirement Visa holders, at present, I don't think we are going to see O Retirement Visa holders needing a significant amount of insurance in order to extend their O Retirement Visa status.