The medical world is changing

Things keep changing in the field of medical care - and that means that costs keep increasing. The good news, though, is that much of the increase in cost is due to the hospitals buying new and improved test equipment to allow them to quickly spot and diagnose medical problems that would have previously been missed, causing required treatment to be ignored. With this new equipment many life threatening problems are able to be found and treated much faster; thus, saving more lives.

Unfortunately, the latest in test equipment is still not good enough to save everyone. Some deadly cancers and other deadly elements are still not being found in time even with the latest and most advanced in test technology. So, even newer and more improved technology needs to be developed and purchased by hospitals who are competing for patients' medical treatment dollars

If the cost of medical care keeps increasing, this means that the cost of medical insurance has to keep increasing. To make matters worse, hospitals often try to pass the cost of their new equipment on to the insurance companies by requiring their insureds to have unnecessary tests using the hospital's new expensive test equipment. Insurance companies are constantly on the watch for hospitals trying to do this to them. And, hospitals often complain about how hard some insurance companies are hard to work with. Oh well...

Speaking about increased hospital costs, I have just discovered that Bumrungrad has increased their room rates dramatically. Two and a half years ago, their small private room rate was 6,009 baht. Now, they have increased the room charge to 8,580 baht, including room, meals, nursing care and service charge. It is important that you find out the full cost of the hospital room, including meals, nursing care and service charge if you are trying to choose a hospital that provides room and board rate that is fully covered by your health insurance. For example, the room charge alone at Bumrungrad is 5,770 baht.

If you have the Ajarn.com Group Plan 3, you are covered for the room up to 6,000 baht. That means that you would have to pay an additional 2,580 baht per day to the hospital yourself. It is not unusual for some hospitals to just quote you the room cost alone; so, be careful. Over the next few weeks, I will try to update the information I've put on Ajarn.com.

The Ajarn.com Group insurance is scheduled to renew in October. Will the premium be increased? I hope not. We have been pretty lucky with THI so far.

The Ajarn Group is an association type group, meaning that you don't have to work for the same employer to be insured in this group. But most of the groups people are familiar with are employer groups. Employer groups, of course, require that everyone insured under the group be employed by the same company and the insurance is provided by the employer as an employee benefit. I mention this because we are now able to provide some very interesting employer group coverage.

It only takes two employees to qualify as a group and they don't have to fill out a health application or answer any health questions. Pre-existing conditions can be covered, including acute and chronic conditions and HIV/AIDS. But before you rush out to ask your school to get this coverage for their teachers, you should be aware that this coverage costs considerably more than Ajarn Group coverage; although the coverage is considerably higher, also. Unless you teach at a very wealthy school, though, I strongly doubt that your school would be interested.

But, all of the employees of a company don't need to be covered under this program. The employer can select a special group of employees to honor as long as they are employed in the same category and everyone in that category is insured under this program.

This new group insurance program is certainly a change for Thailand

You are welcome to contact me, Tony Dabbs, by e-mail or call me on 080-277-4445 if you have any questions. You can also skype me: einsure

Why not have a look at the Tony Dabbs FAQ for answers to common questions about health insurance in Thailand.

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