How to buy an Individual Health Plan.

If you’re an expat or someone who has moved to Thailand for good then you must think about insurance as a necessity. It really is, especially for someone who doesn’t know anyone here, insurance will be your friend when it comes to emergencies that pertain to your health and wellbeing. There are ways to make sure you understand what you’re buying, and that you get the product that’s best for you.

You may want to start by confirming that you really do need to buy individual insurance. In Thailand if you’re legally working you get the Social Security Insurance that covers you in certain hospitals, most of them are government hospitals. For many people, its better to avoid the individual market, since insurers can exclude pre-existing conditions.

The difference between individual health insurance is that you would have to disclose more information when you're buying for yourself rather than having your company buy the insurance for you. 

Comparison website is a good place to start researching your eligibility and your options. Websites like Mister Prakan Insurance will help you in your research for what companies have the best coverage for your needs.

This will help you understand the concepts and language of health insurance in Thailand, which are not that easy to grasp and should give you some sense of the questions to ask about any plan. Then you can go through the web-based brokerages that sell health insurance, including Mister Prakan. You can get estimates from different companies.

Finally, you should expect your agent/broker to continue advising and helping you even after you purchase a policy. The best thing about going through a broker is that you get more service from them than going to a company directly.