Transcript of the above video:

As the title of this video suggests, we are discussing asking the question 'should all foreigners in Thailand obtain medical insurance?' I thought of making this video after reading a recent article from the Pattaya Mail, that is pattayamail.com, the article is titled: Tourist Insurance scheme excludes expats. The thrust of that article goes in a different direction. We are going to quote a small excerpt from that, but I urge those who are watching this video, go check out that article for more detail. Quoting directly: "All foreigners in Thailand should purchase comprehensive medical insurance or self-insure with at least 3 million Baht or 100,000 US$ in reserve." I don't necessarily know on the self-insurance if that level of that number is particularly necessary but that said, yeah it generally is a pretty darn good idea especially for older expats, retirees to have some form of medical coverage. 

Now as we have discussed in other videos, it may not be a requirement for your visa. For example an O Retirement Visa does not require Insurance whereas an O-A Retirement Visa does. So again, depending on your circumstances, it may or may not be a requirement for your Visa. 

That said, just generally is it a good idea? Yeah I don't think it's a bad idea. I think having medical coverage is always a good idea. That said, with regard to self-insurance, that is the threshold for the O-A Visa, that $100,000 or 3 million Baht; I don't know if that is absolutely necessary to have like 100 grand in cash just sitting around in a bank account somewhere in case you have a medical problem. That said, yeah medical insurance generally I think overall is a pretty darn good idea for any expat here in the Kingdom of Thailand.