Insurance in Thailand: A Guide to What You Need (and What You Can Skip)

Insurance in Thailand A Guide to What You Need (and What You Can Skip)

Which insurance in Thailand do you really need?

Do you need health insurance when you already have it in your home country?

Is there a way you can get life insurance in Thailand to protect your family in case something happens?

These are a few important questions you may be asking yourself about insurance in Thailand.

Insurance is a complicated matter. It involves a lot of terms and conditions that you won’t see it everyday life.

This is why we created this guide: to show you which insurance you should get and which one you can skip as an expat in Thailand.

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Summary of this Post

If you want to skip the lengthy read, here’s which insurance we recommend you get in Thailand and which we don’t:

  • Health insurance: Health insurance can save you hundreds of thousands of baht on medical costs. Check out Cigna Global if you’re interested in health insurance.
  • Car insurance: With the number of car accidents each year in Thailand, we recommend you get car insurance. If you want to compare car insurance plans, check out Mister Prakan.
  • Personal accident insurance: Since you get personal accident insurance with health insurance, you don’t need PA insurance if you have health insurance.
  • Life insurance: If you want to leave something behind for your dependents, get life insurance. Otherwise, life insurance is optional. You can purchase it from a life insurance broker.
  • Property insurance: If you own property in Thailand, get property insurance. If you rent, you can skip it.
  • Business insurance: If you run a business in Thailand, business insurance is optional and depends on how risky your business is.

First Things First

Insurance is great for managing risk.

You may feel like you waste money paying for insurance if you don’t use it. But when something unexpected happens, it can be a life saver.

To help you decide which insurance you need and don’t need, we give you an overview of seven popular insurance types for expats in Thailand.

We also point you to more detailed articles on each insurance type and where to get them.

You’ll still come across insurance types that we haven’t mentioned in this guide. And there are new insurance types being introduced every year.

Insurance Companies

Let’s talk about insurance companies in Thailand first.

A graphic of Thailand insurance company logos.
When it comes to insurance in Thailand, your choices are endless.

The insurance industry is big in Thailand. Local and offshore insurance companies aren’t the only ones that offer insurance. Banks offer it as well.

Insurance reps are everywhere.

You might be surprised to find out that the coffee merchant in front of 7-ELEVEN or the mechanic who fixes your car might be an insurance rep.

And you can get insurance from brokers all over Thailand.

But there’s no single-best insurance company in Thailand.

Quality insurance depends on premiums, coverage, requirements, and personal experience.

Let’s take a look at four places that you get insurance in Thailand.

Local Insurance Companies

Local insurance companies in Thailand offer local insurance plans for Thais and expats living in Thailand.

Getting insurance through a local company benefits you because:

  • you don’t pay out of pocket
  • you get quick support
  • you can handle disputes in Thailand

The main benefit of these local companies is that they have direct billing systems set-up with hospitals, clinics, banks, and garages in Thailand.

When you make a claim, you don’t pay out of pocket. Instead, your insurance company takes care of the payment.

Since local companies are in Thailand, you get quick, in-person support.

And if you have any legal issues, you can file a claim through the Thai legal system, which can be much more easier than filing disputes overseas.

The main disadvantage of getting insurance through local insurance companies is that you may not be used to the way the their plan and system works.

Health insurance plans offered by local insurance companies, for example, come with coverage limits.

This means you may only get coverage for a certain amount of treatment. Whereas back home you might’ve had full coverage.

You can find many Thai and international insurance companies in Thailand, such as:

These companies offer all types of insurances.

Some smaller local insurance companies specialize in certain insurance types. For example, Navakij and Virijah specialize in car insurance.

Luma Health, a specialized health insurance company, also falls into this category.

Most local insurance companies in Thailand have representatives throughout the country.

They also have their own programs to teach and train anyone who wants to become a rep.

These reps can come to and sell insurance at your place or take care of you when you encounter an accident.

These reps may also have their own connections with hospitals.

But most reps may only be trained to sell insurance. They might not know every single exclusion. So make sure you scrutinize your prospective insurance plan.

Offshore Insurance Companies

Offshore insurance companies are international insurance companies with offices outside of Thailand that sell insurance to expats living in Thailand.

This includes ACS for health insurance.

Offshore insurance companies offer higher coverage limits than local insurance plans and their plans are more flexible.

For example, most local local insurance plans are invalid once you move out of Thailand.

But with offshore insurance, you might still get coverage if you move from Thailand.

But you might find it hard to find offshore insurance.

Brokers who only sell local insurance can’t help you. They claim that offshore insurance brokers are’t licensed to sell in Thailand.

And the brokers who do sell offshore insurance tend to keep a low profile.

Banks

When you go to banks in Thailand, you can find brochures for insurance on the bank teller’s table.

All banks in Thailand offer at least one or two insurance types.

Even government banks like Government Savings Bank and Krung Thai offer various types of insurance.

Some banks like Krung Sri partner with insurance companies like Allianz to offer insurance plans like Krung Sri Life Insurance.

Banks in Thailand sell life insurance as a form of money saving and investment.

The life insurance market for banks is huge. It has been taken over 25% of the total life insurance market share in Thailand.

With this rise, many banks now offer more insurance choices. For example, Siam Commercial Bank sells 12 types of insurance.

But brokers don’t sell insurance from these banks yet. Only bank tellers and reps do.

Brokers

Brokers are like the upgraded version of an insurance company representative. They offer insurance from many insurance companies.

Brokers must also have a license from Thailand’s Office of Insurance Commission, or OIC, to sell local insurance plans.

Although brokers make money through commissions, they sell similar insurance plans to insurance companies at similar prices.

The main benefit from using an insurance broker is that you can compare a lot of insurance plans from different companies in a single place.

Some brokers let you compare many different insurance plans in a single place and then buy it through them at no additional cost to you.

Mister Prakan is one of these brokers.

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But keep in mind local insurance brokers only offer local insurance plans. If you want to buy offshore insurane, you need to look somewhere else.

Health Insurance

Whether it’s checkups, surgeries, child deliveries, or vaccinations, health insurance covers you for medical care at hospitals and medical clinics in Thailand.

Health insurance companies usually work with hospitals and clinics throughout Thailand.

When you visit hospitals and clinics, your insurance company pays your medical expenses to the hospital or clinic.

If a hospital or clinic doesn’t have direct billing set up with your insurance company, you need to send the receipt to your insurance company to get reimbursed.

Why Get It?

Having health insurance guarantees you medical treatment if you get sick or injured, no matter how serious.

A van parked outside of the entrance to a hospital.
When you have health insurance, you won’t hesitate to go to a premium hospital like Bangkok Hospital.

You won’t think twice about going to a hospital if you’re sick or injured because you won’t have to pay out of pocket.

And going to the hospital early means that you can get treatment when your sickness is still in its early stages.

This means you can have it treated quicker and prevent it from turning into serious disease, which is then harder and more expensive to treat.

Having health insurance helps you budget how much you spend on healthcare each year.

Do You Need It?

It depends. We know people who always buy health insurance and we know people who go without it.

If your company already have a group plan, you might not need it.

If you ask us, we would say get health insurance to safeguard your health, even if you’re healthy. You can buy it for your family.

At the very least, when something unexpected happens, health insurance can save you hundreds of thousands or even millions of baht.

Although medical treatment in Thailand is cheaper than many countries, a one night stay can cost you over ten thousand baht at a standard private hospital.

What if You Have Insurance from Your Home Country?

Read the fine print of your insurance plan from your home country to find out if you’re covered for treatment in Thailand.

Your existing plan might cover you in Thailand or cover you only for basic treatment. For more serious treatment, you may have to fly home.

In other cases you won’t be covered at all.

Plans

Health insurance plans in Thailand are generally available in one of three forms:

  • IPD: you’re covered when you have to stay in the hospital overnight or for consecutive days
  • OPD: you’re covered when you visit the hospital but leave the same day
  • Premium: you’re covered for consecutive overnight hospital stays and if you leave on the same day, and you’re covered for vision, maternity, checkups, etc.

Insurance companies offer more than these three types of insurance. But in the end it comes down to this: the higher your premium, the higher your coverage limits.

How Much Money Can You Save With It?

You can choose from various insurance plans in Thailand, and each one comes with different coverage.

A nurse making a bed in a hospital room.
Without health insurance, you would pay 25,070 baht per night for a premier room at Bumrungrad Hospital.

Again, the higher your premium, the better the coverage.

To give you an idea on how much money you can save with health insurance, let’s take a look at Luma’s Plan One.

This plan comes with 100% IPD coverage, including treatment for cancer. Luma’s Plan One costs 31,670 baht a year for a 39-year-old male.

At popular private hospitals in Thailand, the room price starts at 7,000 baht a night for Phayathai Hospital.

When you add other hospital expenses like medicine, nursing fees, food, you can wind up paying over 12,000 baht a day.

So if you stay in the hospital for at least three days, you would save at least 4,330 baht after you account for the cost of buying health insurance at 31,670 baht.

You can save even more money if you stay in premium hospitals like Bumrungrad and Bangkok Hospital. Room rates here start at 10,000 baht a night.

And if you need surgery, you could spend at least 100,000 baht for a minor surgery.

For major surgeries, you could spend anywhere from 500,000 baht to one million baht or more.

Thailand Starter Kit founder, Karsten, had minor respiratory surgery at Bumrungrad Hospital.

He only stayed at the hospital for a night. But the costs came to almost 300,000 baht. Luckily, he had insurance.

Where to Get It?

You can buy health insurance in Thailand either through insurance companies or insurance brokers.

There’s not a major difference between the two. You can get the same plan with similar coverage with the same premium.

And you can buy either local or offshore insurance.

You can choose between many international insurance plans that cover you in Thailand. ACS is one of them.

The best part about offshore insurance is that coverage limits are higher than coverage limits for local insurance.

If you want to get insurance from a local company where you can just pick up the phone and call them when you need help, we recommend Luma.

Read our in-depth guide to health insurance to find out where to get insurance.

Life Insurance

Life insurance covers you mainly under two conditions:

  • You’re alive after the time specified by your insurance policy
  • You die after paying into your policy for the minimum number of years specified by your insurance policy

Insurance companies won’t pay benefits if you commit suicide within a year after buying life insurance or you’re murdered by your beneficiary.

If you plan to live the rest of your life in Thailand, you can get life insurance under the following conditions:

  • You need to live in Thailand for at least one year

But it’s hard for expats to buy life insurance, especially if they’re married to a Thai, married to someone a lot younger or a lot older, or they need a lot of coverage.

Killing for insurance money does happen in Thailand.

If you cannot get life insurance from a local insurer, you can get it from an international provider instead. For example, William Russell has a life insurance plan for expats. And you can keep the plan even after you move out of Thailand. 

Why Get It?

The main benefit of getting life insurance is going to be for your beneficiary, who gets your insurance money after you die.

But not everyone can be your beneficiary. The Commercial Code Act 863 says the beneficiary must have some beneficial or legal relationship with you.

You can buy life insurance and list your children or your spouse as your beneficiary.

But you can’t list your girlfriend or boyfriend as beneficiary until you marry her or him.

Because of the legal issues involved, you should talk to a financial advisor before buying life insurance to make sure your beneficiary gets your insurance money.

You can also get some benefits from life insurance in a form of savings and investments.

Certain insurance plans give you cash back every one or two years with interest after you reach a certain age or pay the premium after a certain number of years.

If you’re alive after the date specified by your insurance policy, you get the insurance money.

If you work in Thailand, life insurance can be used to reduce your income taxes as well.

Do You Need It?

Life insurance is optional. The main purpose of getting it is to make sure that your loved ones have money to take care of themselves after you pass away.

If you want to stay single for the rest of your life, you might not need life insurance.

Although life insurance is an investment in which you get money back from each year, it’s not the only investment option available.

So, when it comes to buying life insurance, it depends on you.

If you want to leave money to your family after you die, then buy it. If it’s a suitable investment for you, then buy it.

If you don’t have someone you need to worry about after you die or you have a better to invest, then you don’t need it.

Plans

Many life insurance plans and options are available in Thailand. Normally, they’re separated into four types:

  • Term insurance: gets you ten to 20 years of coverage and pays insurance money if you die during the coverage period. If you don’t die during the coverage period, you won’t get money back. But premiums are cheaper than other types.
  • Lifetime insurance: gets you lifetime coverage and gives you or your beneficiary insurance money if you die or are older than a certain ages
  • Endowment insurance: gets you money back with interest after a certain amount of years.
  • Retirement insurance: gets you money back with interest every year after you reach retirement age.

Some life insurance plans come with add-ons for health insurance, personal accident insurance, or even education savings for your kids.

A life insurance policy card.
Allianz Ayudhya’s life insurance policy card.

Some insurance plan may come with health insurance coverage if you buy life insurance from them as well.

Depending on your coverage, premiums can be higher or lower than buying separate health insurance.

The main benefit of buying health insurance as an add-on to your life insurance is that your insurance company won’t let you go if you fall seriously ill.

If you buy life insurance, you don’t have to pay for coverage every year.

You only need to pay the premium every year consecutively for a certain amount of years as specified by your policy.

For example, you need to pay ten year’s premium for this Bangkok Bank life insurance but you get covered for 25 years.

Unlike health insurance, you know exactly how much you need to pay every year. And premiums won’t increase.

If you can’t pay every year consecutively, talk to your insurance representatives. There might be a way to extend your payment deadline.

What if You Move Back to Your Home Country?

Unfortunately, when you buy life insurance from Thai companies, chances are you won’t be covered when you move out of Thailand.

But some insurance companies like Friend Provident let you transfer your life insurance from Thailand to the country you move to.

Usually, this option is only available through international insurance companies that have offices in Asia and the country you move to.

How Much Money Can You Save with It?

If you get life insurance, even an endowment plan, you won’t make or save much money from it.

The interest rates of many life insurance plans are not different than interest rates on savings accounts at the bank.

And you have to send a specific amount of money toward your life insurance continuously for many years but have to wait until its maturity date to withdraw it.

But life insurance is a great way to insure that your beneficiary can take care of themselves even after you die.

It’s also a good tool to save money for retirement.

Where to Get It?

Life insurance is available throughout Thailand.

Generally speaking, you can get it at any bank or insurance company in Thailand if you meet all the requirements mentioned above.

The main challenge with getting life insurance is that it’s hard to find a rep who really knows the product.

Usually, they only know about the main selling points but not whether a certain plan is good for you or not.

This includes official reps like bank tellers.

So you should be extra careful when buying life insurance.

Scrutinize the policy and only buy from a rep or broker who you can trust.

If you want to buy life insurance, get in touch with a life insurance broker.

Car Insurance

Car insurance covers you if you have to fix or replace your car due to accidents.

Car insurance also covers you for injuries or deaths caused by car accidents.

And if you get into an accident, a car insurance agent comes to the scene to help find out who is responsible for the accident.

Depending on your insurance plan, you can repair you car at any garage that partners with your car insurance company, whether it’s a dealership or garage.

Why Get It?

In addition to saving you money on repairs or accidents, especially if injuries or deaths are involved, car insurance gives you two more benefits.

A line of traffic stretching down a main road.
In Thailand, car accidents frequently happen due to the immense number of cars of the road.

The first benefit is that the insurance company sends someone out on your behalf to see who was at fault when you have an accident.

This is especially helpful if you can’t speak Thai. You won’t be blamed for the accident because of language barriers.

If you have car insurance, all you need to do is call your insurance company and have their agent take care of the accident.

The second benefit is that car insurance helps you stay out of court.

Without car insurance, compensation and repairs costs are mainly negotiated.

If you can’t come to an agreement with the other people involved, you may find yourself in court. And then you need to hire a lawyer in Thailand.

Do You Need It?

If you own a car in Thailand, we recommend getting car insurance.

The World Health Organisation estimates that road accidents cause more than 24,000 deaths a year, or 66 deaths a day, in Thailand.

Thailand’s roads are the second most dangerous in the world next to Libya.

In 2018, the total number of accidents in Thailand was 397,698 according to ThaiRSC.

That means on average 1,089 accidents happen every day in Thailand.

What Does this Number Mean to You?

As long as you drive in Thailand you run the risk of getting into an accident, especially if you just moved here and aren’t used to driving in Thailand.

Although you must have Compulsory Third-Party Liability Insurance, or Por Ror Bor, it only covers you for basic medical treatment.

What if You Import Your Car into Thailand?

You need car insurance if you want to ship your car to Thailand.

Insurance for imported cars tends to be much more expensive, especially for models that aren’t available in Thailand.

Plans

Car insurance in Thailand is generally separated into three types:

  • Type One: the most expensive and the most comprehensive plan that covers everything related to car accidents
  • Type Two: the second-most expensive type with similar coverage to Type One, but doesn’t cover you for accidents that don’t involve third-parties
  • Type Three: the cheapest type available that covers you only for medical expenses and third-party liability

In addition to these three plans, you could see plans like Type Two Plus or Type Three Plus.

Basically, it’s an upgraded version of that type and comes with better coverage. But the total coverage is still lower than it’s parent insurance.

For example, you get more coverage with Type Two Plus than you would with Type Two, but less coverage with Type Two Plus than with Type One.

Not all insurance companies offer free rental cars if your car is under repair, even with Type One insurance.

This depends more on how many spare cars are available at the garage.

Car insurance premiums in Thailand can go up if you claim too many times in the year or cause a car accident. The increase in premium is case-by-case.

On the other hand, if you don’t make any claims or cause any accidents, you can negotiate lower premiums.

The increase and decrease of premiums can be anywhere from 10% to 40%.

How Much Money Can You Save with It?

The average cost of Type One car insurance is around 18,000 baht per year for a sedan.

A damaged rear bumber on a black car.
You could pay more than 30,000 baht to repair damage like this.

Repair costs depend on many factors, including your car make, model, and how serious the damage is.

Generally speaking, the cost of repairing a scratch is 3,000 baht. If you need many parts repaired, you could pay around 20,000 baht to 30,000 baht.

For serious damage, repairs can easily cost over 100,000 baht.

For example, a person posted pictures of his damaged Honda City from a car accident on pantip.com.

He said the total cost to repair his car was 200,000 baht, which was paid in full by his car insurance company.

But these costs still doesn’t include the cost of medical treatment.

If you have minor car accidents once every few years, you won’t save money from car insurance.

But if you get into a serious accident, you can save hundreds of thousand baht.

This is especially true if you get into an accident with a BMW, Mercedes, or Porsche, which can cost two-to-three times higher than fixing other cars.

Where to Get It?

A popular way to buy car insurance in Thailand is through a broker.

The price is the same as if you buy directly from an insurance company, but you have more choices.

Brokers can also help you make claims and deal with mechanics.

If you choose to buy with broker, check out Mister Prakan. On the website you can compare car insurance plans and buy the best one for your needs.

If you buy through Mister Prakan, you get the peace of mind knowing they’ll help you if you have an accident.

You can also buy car insurance from insurance companies. Popular car insurance companies in Thailand are:

Read our guide to car insurance in Thailand to find out more about buying car insurance.

Personal Accident Insurance

Personal Accident insurance, or PA, covers you for medical, disability, and death caused by travel and road accidents, slipping, sports, and even dog bites.

A motorcycle taxi driver tending to a student he hit with his motorbike..
In November 2018, a picture of a student who got hit by a motorcycle while walking on the sidewalk went viral on Twitter.

If you have to stay in the hospital, you also get daily compensation.

But unlike with health insurance, you won’t be covered if you get sick.

For example, if you get a cold and need to be admitted to the hospital, you won’t be covered by PA insurance.

On the other hand, if you get hit by a motorcycle while walking on the sidewalk and get injured, PA insurance pays for x-ray and surgery costs.

But PA insurance won’t cover you for if get injured while on drugs or under the influence of alcohol, get into a fight, or willingly harm yourself.

Why Get It?

As the name suggests, PA insurance covers you for any accidents that happen.

The entrance of Bangkok Hospital's Spine Academy.
If you injure your spine in an accident, it could cost you hundreds of thousands of baht in medical care.

The most common accidents in Thailand are road accident. And they can happen even if you don’t drive. You can get hit by a motorcycle while walking on a sidewalk.

Although all cars and motorcycles in Thailand are required to have Compulsory Third-Party Liability Insurance, the medical coverage is never enough.

Having PA insurance assures that you’re covered for all accidents in Thailand, not just road accidents.

Do You Need It?

PA insurance is usually included in health insurance. So, if you have health insurance, you don’t need PA insurance unless you want more coverage for accidents.

If you don’t have health insurance, then getting PA insurance mainly depends on your job and lifestyle.

If you ride motorcycles, your neighborhood is full of street dogs, or you love to do risky activities, you should get PA insurance.

But if you are a digital nomad who works in an air-conditioned room, watches movies, and travels to safe areas, you might not need PA insurance.

Getting PA insurance is a good idea for retirees in Thailand who are 65 or older. At this age, it’s hard to find health insurance. But you can still get PA insurance.

Certain insurance companies or banks have PA insurance for retirees.

Kasikorn Bank, for example, has a plan for 55- to 99-year-olds.

Although it won’t cover you if you’re sick, at least you’re covered if you fall down and get injured, which does happen at this stage of life.

Plans

There are usually two available choices for PA insurance:

  • Plan 1: covers you for death, disability, and medical expense caused by accidents
  • Plan 2: more expensive than Plan 1 but gives you more coverage and might also cover you if you get admitted to the hospital

In addition to age, the premium for PA insurance depends on how risky your life is. The riskier your life, the higher the premium.

Risky lifestyles are categorized into four groups:

  • Group 1: office workers who work indoors
  • Group 2: those work outside
  • Group 3: those who work with machines, such as engineers and handymen
  • Group 4: those who work in risky activities, such as stuntpeople, race car drivers, and hikers

Premiums are cheapest for Group 1 and more expensive for Group 4.

How Much Money Can You Save with It?

Although PA insurance only comes with accident coverage, the average premium is only a few thousands baht per year, or less than ten baht per day.

PA insurance comes with a million baht coverage for death and disability and 50,000 baht for hospitalization.

Treatment costs depend on how serious the accident is and which hospital you go to.

Generally speaking, having a cast put on a broken bone shouldn’t cost you more than 10,000 baht.

If you need surgery, it can cost you 100,000 baht or more.

Therefore, buying PA insurance is hit or miss. If you have an accident, you’re going to save a lot of money by having PA insurance.

If you don’t have any accidents, then at least you have the peace of mind that comes with being covered.

Where to Get It?

PA insurance is available in Thailand. You can get it at insurance companies in Thailand like:

You can also get it from the following banks:

You won’t notice a major difference between buying PA insurance from insurance companies or banks. You only need to check which one carries the best plan for you.

Property Insurance

Property insurance covers your properties and belongings inside from natural and man-made disasters.

It protects you in case of fires, lighting strikes, earthquakes, storms, and hail storms.

Since floods are common in Thailand, property insurance doesn’t cover floods unless you buy an add-on.

Regarding man-made disasters, if someone accidentally hits your house while driving, your house is covered.

If a plane crashes into your house, you’re covered.

But if you drive into your house, property insurance doesn’t cover you.

Property insurance also comes with burglary protection. If your house get broken into, you can claim money back from your insurance company.

Why Get It?

Property insurance is a good way to protect your property and make sure you don’t lose a lot of money if something happens to your property.

In Thailand, floods like this happen frequently.

The most common disasters in Thailand are fires and floods.

Although earthquakes are rare, fires and floods do happen. And when they do, they cause severe damage to property.

Property insurance only covers unexpected incidents.

If you have to fix your leaking roof, property insurance won’t cover you.

Do You Need It?

Property insurance is optional.

If you’re confident that your home has good security, a fire prevention system, and is risk-free from any disasters, you don’t need it.

On the other hand, if you live in an area that has history of disasters, it’s better to get property insurance.

If you rent, you don’t need property insurance. Property insurance is only for property owners.

Plans

When it comes to property insurance, you have two choices for insuring your house or condo:

  • A basic plan that covers fires, earthquakes, and lighting strikes
  • An add-on plan that covers you for the above plus floods, burglaries, and damage to electric appliances caused by lightning strikes

Some insurance companies may offer more coverage than this. But you’ll pay a higher premium for more coverage.

How Much Money Can You Save With It?

Similar to personal accident insurance, having property insurance is hit or miss since you use it only when your property is damaged.

The chance of this happening is slim. But if an accident does happen, your going to pay a lot of money out of pocket.

As you can see from this plan offered by Bangkok Bank, average premiums start at 3,200 baht per year for 1,000,000 baht limits.

But you can save several hundreds of thousands of baht if you have one major accident at your house.

Let’s just hope that never happens.

Where to Get It

Although information on property insurance is rarely available in English, most insurance companies and banks in Thailand offer it.

You can also get it from a broker like Mister Prakan. Mister Prakan lets you compare many insurance plans at once so you can see which one is best for you.

Unlike life insurance, property insurance details are easy to understand. You won’t need to talk to a financial advisor about it.

You only need to get the plan that has the best coverage for the disaster that’s likely to happen to your property.

Travel Insurance

Travel insurance covers you for any accident you have while traveling to Thailand.

If you get into a car or motorcycle accident, travel insurance covers you.

If you get stung by a jellyfish, travel insurance covers you.

If you break your leg while hiking, travel insurance covers you.

If your flight or your baggage is delayed, travel insurance covers you.

If you get sick, travel insurance also covers you.

But travel insurance only covers you for unforeseen incidents. If you get sick before traveling to Thailand, travel insurance won’t cover you.

Some insurance plans go as far as denying you coverage if you get a new driving license in Thailand and have an accident.

Also, travel insurance is only available for a set amount of time. Many times, you can only buy travel insurance for up to three months of coverage.

Why Get It?

The main benefit of having travel insurance is that it can save you money if you have a medical emergency.

If you get sick or have an accident during your vacation in Thailand, you can call an ambulance or a medical helicopter to bring you to a nearby hospital.

Depending on the seriousness of your case, travel insurance companies may fly you home so you can get treatment in your home country.

If this happens, your travel insurance covers the medical transportation and treatment costs.

Also, travel insurance cover you for flight cancellations, delayed bags, stolen gear, and so on.

Travel insurance companies reimburse you for your losses or damages during these incidents.

Do You Need It?

If you travel to Thailand, you should get travel insurance.

This way you can enjoy all the activities you want to do in Thailand without having to worry about unexpected costs if you get sick or injured.

A lot of activities in Thailand involve some risk. And not just Muay Thai or ziplining, but also jet skiing, snorkeling, scuba diving, cycling, and even driving.

Accidents happen in Thailand more than you think. But they’re not always car or boat crashes.

You’re more likely to get stung by jellyfish, twist an ankle while hiking, or get food poisoning from street food.

With travel insurance, you can go to any hospital and get immediate treatment without having to worry about how much cash you have.

How Much Money Can You Save with It?

The cost of medical treatment while traveling doesn’t only come down to hospital fees. It could include medical evacuation costs as well.

A parked ambulance.
If you have an accident in Thailand, ambulance costs can make up most of your total medical care costs.

In serious cases, you can’t take a taxi to get you to a nearby hospital. Instead, you need to call an ambulance, which can cost you ten thousand baht.

If you have a life-threatening accident while diving a motorcycle in Ko Phangan, you need a medical helicopter to fly you to the nearest capable hospital.

This could easily cost you several hundreds of thousands of baht.

Compared to the average travel insurance premium at $10, or 320 baht per day, you can easily save hundreds of thousands of baht with travel insurance.

Plans

You have two choices when buying travel insurance: standard plans and premium plans.

Standard plans come with basic coverage for hospital stays, medical evacuations, theft protection, and delayed bags.

Premium plans come with higher coverage limits and coverage on rental vehicles, sports activities, and hijackings.

Where to Get It

Travel insurance is very easy to buy. You can do buy it online on the travel insurance company’s website.

Just remember to get travel insurance at least one day before traveling to Thailand.

Because of this, most insurance companies in Thailand don’t sell travel insurance for Thailand.

Instead, you have to buy it from an insurance company outside of Thailand.

One travel insurance company we recommend is World Nomads. They have good coverage for Thailand vacations.

If you want to find out more about travel insurance, read our guide to travel insurance in Thailand.

Business Insurance

Business insurance, or commercial insurance, is an insurance plan for people who run a business in Thailand.

A group of protesters marching down the road.
With business insurance, you can get additional coverage for damage to your business caused by riots, protests, and civil unrest.

With business insurance, you get all the insurance types mentioned above packed into one plan.

And business insurance covers business owners and all of his or her employees.

If your company holds a team building event in Khao Yai, and you rent a bus for your employees but it crashes and causes casualties, everyone is covered.

Business insurance also covers people who get injured while visiting your company or when someone file a lawsuit against your business.

You can say that business insurance covers your business from all angles.

Why Get It?

Business insurance is a good way to manage potential risks in your company.

Since running a business involves many people and factors, you can’t keep everything under control.

Having business insurance doesn’t prevent risks. But when things happen, you know what to do next, and know who’s going to cover it.

This way you can resume your business without spending time trying to figure out a solution.

The faster you can get back to running your business after an incident, the better off your business is.

Do You Need It?

This depends on your business type and the potential risks you encounter.

If you open a restaurant in Thailand, you should get commercial property insurance in case of a fire.

If you open a consulting business, you should get professional liability insurance to protect your company from civil lawsuits filed by your clients.

If you open an international school, business insurance with student accident coverage protects your students from accidents that happen at the school.

If you run a risk-free BOI-promoted software company, you should get group health insurance so your employees stay healthy and productive.

All-in-all, having business insurance is optional. It all depends on your policy with risk management.

Plans

There are various plans available for business insurance. And you can get business insurance for any business you run in Thailand.

Each plan has specific coverage. When you buy commercial property insurance, it only comes with property damage coverage.

If you want to have profit compensation if your company suffers from a disaster, then you need to get business interruption insurance.

The most basic plan is commercial general liability insurance. This comes with business risk coverage for injuries and property damage due to running a business.

But not all commercial insurance plans are stand-alone plans.

For example, you can’t get business interruption insurance without buying commercial property insurance.

Where to Get It?

Although business insurance is available at any insurance company in Thailand, it’s a good idea to talk to a reliable broker or financial advisor.

Buying business insurance is complicated. You need to find out the coverage needs of your business and find the best plan based on those needs.

Plan premiums and coverage depend on what you need and your company’s situation. Business insurance is tailor-made rather than fixed.

If you want business insurance, send us an email on our contact page. We’ll put you in touch with a reliable broker.

Now, on to You

If you’ve made it this far and still aren’t sure which insurance you should get, feel free to get in touch with us and tell us what you need.

We’ll answer your question as best as we can. And if we can’t, we’ll put you in touch with an expert who can help you.

Featured image by West Midlands Police.

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Saran Lhawpongwad is a Bangkokian by birth. He loves to share what he learns based on his insights living and running business in Thailand. While not at his desk, he likes to be outdoors exploring the world with his family. You can connect with him on his LinkedIn.

5 thoughts on “Insurance in Thailand: A Guide to What You Need (and What You Can Skip)”

  1. Team,

    I am renting an unfurnished villa for about 2 years and need contents insurance for my furniture; a subject not covered here. What can you provide me?

    Thanks
    Kate

    Reply
    • Hi Kate, that does exist to my knowledge, though unfortunately I’m not too familiar with the specifics of available options. Probably best to talk to an actual insurance broker about this. Let me know in case you’d like me to e-mail you the contact details of one.

      Reply
      • Hi Karsten! This is Rita from HK. I am an insurance broker and we offer a broad range of offshore products and we also are the master agent of some of the excellent offshore products . I would like to introduce to some local Bangkok brokers or private banks . Can you recommend any brokers which you think I can talk to ? Thanks a lot in advance .

        Reply

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