When I think about retiring in Asia after teaching, it seems to make financial sense – lots of things are cheaper, plus we really like the region.
Health insurance however will be expensive as far as I can tell.
Does anyone have a good (and affordable) plan for health insurance during their retirement in Asia?
Healthcare insurance after retiring in Asia?
-
Heliotrope
- Posts: 1169
- Joined: Sun May 13, 2018 1:48 am
Re: Healthcare insurance after retiring in Asia?
How long is a piece of string?
Two terms are very important, and very string-like: good and affordable.
You can get a variety of policies which target the region, meaning you can only get planned care in the region, and are only covered for emergencies when you’re temporarily out of the region. You can choose policies which either include or exclude t North America and/or other regions for that emergency portion, excluding being cheaper of course. From there, policies cover hugely different lists of medical conditions for hugely different amounts of coverage, charging anywhere from practically free to thousands per year. The cheapest I’ve seen was about ten quid a month; you can guess how extensive the coverage was.
What coverage do you need, in what regions, to feel secure?
Two terms are very important, and very string-like: good and affordable.
You can get a variety of policies which target the region, meaning you can only get planned care in the region, and are only covered for emergencies when you’re temporarily out of the region. You can choose policies which either include or exclude t North America and/or other regions for that emergency portion, excluding being cheaper of course. From there, policies cover hugely different lists of medical conditions for hugely different amounts of coverage, charging anywhere from practically free to thousands per year. The cheapest I’ve seen was about ten quid a month; you can guess how extensive the coverage was.
What coverage do you need, in what regions, to feel secure?
Response
I would concur with @Sid, the whole idea of good and affordable is a myth, the better the quality the more the cost, the more affordable the fewer protections and benefits that are provided. A lot of expats retire in Asia because they are relatively healthy and the low cost of living also includes low costs for health care, but these costs are paid on your own coin. Seeing a doctor costs less for the entire visit than what you would pay for a copay, and prescriptions are cheap. Even if you find a plan thats the right balance of benefits and cost its not going to mean very much if everything it covers is essentially high cost and there is no billing arrangements meaning you have to have a pot of coin to pay the bills upfront and then everything else is reimbursed. You might have direct billing in one region and one provider and nowhere else, meaning you need to choose a location based on your insurance not an insurance based on your location.
In very broad general terms, you have regions like Japan where NHI will cover everything and its socialized so the costs are relatively low, but the cost of living isnt cheap. On the other end of the scale you have places like Myanmar where the cost of living is very low but you essentially run into the problems above.
Ideally you want somewhere like Chiang mai where there are a lot of semi-retired expats and thus a healthy western network of services and opportunities were the cost of living is relatively low.
In very broad general terms, you have regions like Japan where NHI will cover everything and its socialized so the costs are relatively low, but the cost of living isnt cheap. On the other end of the scale you have places like Myanmar where the cost of living is very low but you essentially run into the problems above.
Ideally you want somewhere like Chiang mai where there are a lot of semi-retired expats and thus a healthy western network of services and opportunities were the cost of living is relatively low.