Transcript of the above video:

As the title of this video suggests, we are discussing the notion of Mandatory Insurance associated with Thai Visas. This is a topic that is I think it's safe to say it makes a lot of expats squirm for lack of a better term and I understand why, I fully understand why. That said, I thought of making this video after reading a recent article from the Pattaya Mail, pattayamail.com, the article is titled: New Thai health insurance policy for foreigners in border regions only. Let me just start of by saying, this doesn't pertain to the same foreigners as most people think it does, I will get into this in a minute, hold on. “Press reports that a new registration scheme will help boost access to healthcare for foreign nationals and the stateless is creating confusion in expat circles." Quoting further: "Most foreign tourists and expats are not currently required to have comprehensive medical treatment, although the exceptions include some retirees with a long term O-A Visas issued by a Thai Embassy, holders of the new 10-year long-term residence and expats with Work Permits who are separately categorized.” So again, there are people that are already have Mandatory Insurance associated with their presence here in Thailand. Quoting further: "Suggestions that Thailand would introduce a 300 Baht entry tax on foreign arrivals to cover their medical needs have floundered. The tax still awaits introduction and will be largely used to improve tourist sites and for marketing purposes. A small proportion might be diverted to a compensation fund for foreigners who die in tragic circumstances such as unforeseen accidents." Yeah, we have discussed the so-called Tourist Tax many times on this channel. Me personally, I kind of think that whole plan is kind of a bad idea. I get it, it's not illogical and I can understand why policy makers would think it is a good idea but the optics on it don't look very good and there are other ways quite honestly of dealing with it.

Now will Mandatory Insurance become associated with all Thai Visas? I don't think it is going to happen in the immediately foreseeable future but I have said before and I will say it again, I think there is always a possibility out there that they do start imposing that because as we have discussed associated with when they brought in the Mandatory Insurance associated with the O-A Retirement Visa, they made it clear that one of the reasons for it was foreign nationals were taxing the healthcare infrastructure of Thailand and they were trying to figure out some way to sort of offset that usage. One of the things that they came up with was Mandatory Insurance. Now as discussed in prior videos, not all visas will need to have insurance. In fact there are certain categories that don't require it even within the Retirement Visa category there is a differentiation but do I think it is outside the realm of possibility it could be required on non-immigrants in the future? Possibly, I think it could. That said, again sort of like with the Tourist Tax, the optics on it are a little strange. It would also maybe help if they made the process of getting the insurance a little easier, if they sort of built it in. I don't know how you would do that but at the end of the day, you have got to remember, if you are trying to facilitate more tourists or more interest in Thailand, making things a little bit easier is probably better than making things a little bit more difficult and just sort of adding extra steps doesn't do anything but sort of add consternation and causes some people to just throw up their hands and say I am going to go elsewhere. Now that said, again you have to balance that against the need to maintain the healthcare infrastructure; I get all of that.

Long story short, the answer to the question posed in the title is, is it going to immediately happen? No, that does not appear to be the case. Does this specific, if you get into this article, I urge those are watching this video go Pattaya Mail, check that out, what they are even talking about here is primarily migrant workers coming over from border regions but again they are foreigners but they are treated differently because there is sort of a different Immigration regime especially associated with Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar and for folks coming in from those places to work here in Thailand; there is sort of a different setup for them. So again, even though there is this sort of Mandatory Healthcare initiative associated with some of those folks, I don't think it is particularly warranted to presume that that is going to bleed over on to sort of all foreigners here in the Kingdom of Thailand.