I’m confused about something on your website. Can you clarify?

last updated 24th November 2009

Tony, on your website you offer both health insurance coverage sold through a Life Insurance company and health insurance coverage sold through a General Insurance company. Why?

We started out selling health insurance through a life insurance company. It soon became apparent, though, that we faced a lot of product marketing hurdles trying to sell life insurance to ex-pats. The highest priority for most ex-pats we talked with was medical insurance. That was fine. We offered good health insurance coverage as an attachment to a life insurance policy. But…many of the ex-pats we talked with really didn’t feel a need for Thai baht life insurance, since they weren’t planning to settle down here. And frankly, I had to agree with them. When I tried selling to ex-pats outside the school, the Work Permit requirement became another obstacle for us.

The fact that BUPA, a non-life insurance company, could sell ex-pats the kind of insurance they wanted, and we couldn’t, really annoyed me. So I went out looking for another non-life insurance company that wasn’t as well known to ex-pats as BUPA, but had the ability to compete well against them. Fortunately, I was able to find just the insurance company I was looking for.

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Ajarn.com was started as a small hobby website in 1999 by Ian McNamara. It was a simple way for one Bangkok teacher to share his Thailand experiences and pass on advice. The website developed a loyal and enthusiastic following. In 2004, Ian handed over the reins to Phil Williams and 'Bangkok Phil' has run the ajarn website ever since.

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