THAILAND TO ADD MANDATORY HEALTH INSURANCE FEE FOR TOURISTS

Photo: Travel Lemming

Thailand’s Tourism Ministry Secretary said today that Thailand plans to add a mandatory health insurance fee for all foreign visitors.

While an exact timeline and price hasn’t yet been revealed, the official said that the plan is for this to be rolled out within about six months and that the fee could be around 100 Thai Baht (a little over 3USD).

This fee would be in addition to the visa fees that Thailand charges visitors from many countries. It’s not clear whether visitors covered by their own insurance policy would still have to buy this one.

Thailand has about 38 million foreign visitors a year, so this would raise about 3.8 billion Baht, or about 120 million USD, per year.

It’s worth noting that this isn’t the first time that such a concept has been proposed, and they’ve been shot down in the past. Perhaps it will be different this time.

The reason for this proposal? Thailand’s government has been spending as much as 300 million Baht per year on healthcare and even corpse transportation for foreign visitors — eek. Frankly, that’s lower than I would have expected.

Read the full article at One Mile At A Time: https://onemileatatime.com/thailand-mandatory-insurance-fee-tourists/

Tags: health insurance, Thailand, Tourism

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