Transcript of the above video:

As the title of this video suggests, we are discussing Insurance. This has definitely been something, it has been a hot topic in Thai Immigration here the last week or so. I have been talking about it a lot it seems lately. It seems like I have been getting a lot of information from the same sources down in Pattaya because quite honestly they seem to be providing the most information at the moment, but I have been trying to keep up to date on this and trying to provide as much information as I can out there because I do know there are a lot of retirees that watch this channel and they are concerned about this issue. 

Now understand, and as I have said in as many of these videos as I can, when we are talking about insurance in the context of Retirement Visa, we are NOT talking about the O Retirement Visa. We are specifically talking about the O-A Retirement Visa. As of now, the O Retirement Visa does not have any insurance requirements and it does not appear that they will have any insurance requirements at least into the foreseeable future. So with that I am going to go ahead and quote an article from the Pattaya Mail, that is pattayamail.com, the article is titled: Medical Insurance is a Complex Business Mr. Ambassador. Quoting directly: "Finally there are the elderly and the super-aged. Insurance Companies prefer customers who won't make a claim so issues like gerontocracy, pre-existing conditions and high cholesterol in a medical report are distancing strategies like no other. So these expats must either sit tight and hope the grim reaper strikes quickly," (that's a little macabre) quoting further: "or pay through the nose, or self-insure." (There is another option). Quoting further: "Interestingly, the Thai Cabinet has now authorized self-insurance as a concept, though how it will be implemented by Thai Immigration Offices, if at all, is not yet crystal clear. Expat residence in Thailand is never much different." 

Yeah I do feel for expats in Thailand where everything seems to be kind of a constant churn of information as to what is going to happen, what immigration policy is. It can be a little daunting. I hope that this channel provides some level of clarity or at least provides some level of clarity over time with respect to these issues and I hope I make it clear that when I don't understand exactly where something stands I hope I make that clear, because even vagueness when it's pointed out can provide a certain level of clarity. Back to the issue here, No, I think one of the reasons the Thai O Retirement Visa is being preserved as a non- Insurance option for retirees is precisely for the aged, for the folks that have gotten old enough that they cannot maintain retiree status with insurance because insurance will no longer cover them. I think that's why the O Retirement Visa primarily exists at least in its current form. So if you are one of these folks that is worried about maintaining your retirement status and you think that you only have the option of unfortunately passing away or hoping this doesn't happen or you have got to self-insure, there may be another option. It may be possible to change to an O Retirement Visa. Again, it's going to be circumstantially dependent; you really are going to want to contact a legal professional to do the right because there are a lot of moving parts. But again, depending on your circumstances, it may be possible for those folks who do have issues with respect to being older, they may have issues getting insurance and they just want to maintain long-term retirement status here in the Kingdom of Thailand.