Does the OA visa in Thailand require Thai health insurance, and how can I obtain it while in the US?

@Floyd *****

In my opinion, the non-O is far superior to the non-OA, not just in terms of eligibility requirements, such as having to prove Thailand health insurance & obtaining a police report, but also because the former does not require you to leave Thailand at certain points like I believe the non-OA does (180 days?).

Regarding Tricare, if you’re retired military & under 65, Tricare for you is basically Champus: they’ll refund you up to 75% of your documented medical expenses. If you’re 65 or older, the same applies except they call it Tricare for Life (note, you have to have opted for Medicare Part B. In either case, you generally pay up front to avoid complications, regardless of whether a particular hospital, such as Bumrungrad, tries to work with you on this. In many cases, Tricare will need more information, such as a medication breakdown that includes dosage, dates, etc. The snail-mail back & forthness & repeated trips to the hospital can be burdensome, & often result in hospital admissions folks feeling a sense of urgency in trying to collect what’s owed them. In at least one case, Udon Thani’s Panyavejinter Hospital changed its policy & would no longer even make the effort.

AXA is minimum 0 detectable is means any medical bill under one hundred Thousand you have to pay from your own pocket 🥹

Here is a list of approved insurance companies:

AXA easy care policy via online

Check the embassy website. They will have the information about the OA visa.

There is an insurance requirement, and they say you can use your own insurance if your insurance company will fill out and sign a specific form. But no insurance company will actually do that, so you cannot use your own insurance. They will also have a list of approved Thai insurance companies. You use that list to contact the companies and get price quotes and purchase one of the policies.

Alternatively you can apply for the 90 day non-O visa instead. Much lower requirement (no medical check, no background check, no insurance requirement), but once you get to Thailand you'll have to open a Thai bank account and transfer 800,000 within a month of arriving. When you go to apply for the 1-year extension the money must have been in your account for 2 full months already. Since you only get a 90 day entry stamp, that only leaves you the one month to get the money in place before applying for the extension.