It's a visa targeted towards people who are under the age of 50(cannot get retirement visa), also those who can't obtain a work permit and also who are not married to a Thai national, the best value is either the 5 year at 500k or 20 years at 1 million, I'm on the 5 year as the 20 year only came out about 1-2 years ago, it's survived many governments, came out when Thaksin was in power and I personally have more faith in this then the forever changing other Thai visas

Yes your correct I pay the Medicare levy and also the stupid surcharge as I am in the top tax bracket, as I don't have private health insurance for Australia, yet I pay for private health here, so I kinda get stung twice :(

Steven de Blaquiere yes more then 5 years, i still pay tax as I am employed by an Australian company with a subsidiary here in Chiang Mai

Total bullshit sorry, I am an Australian and never had an issue going back for Medicare, was back in Sydney in November last year and was able to see my bulk billing GP and full blood work for free under Medicare

Yes we are a friendly bunch, much better then some other death pat groups :)

Mai Sai is the closest, takes about 4-5 hours each way, you can get a visa exempt 2 times per year, google Mai Sai visa bus run thier is a company that goes every few days

You should be fine, it's more back 2 back VE

Hard to speculate but apparently you have been spending too much time in Thailand on tourist visas, I think it would be best to go back to your home country and apply for a visa, IOs don't really like people hopping over to neighbouring countries for tourist long term visa