Transcript of the above video:

In this video we are discussing the concept of Thai Retirement Visa insurance so the health insurance which is a prerequisite for many Retirement Visas; whether or not this is a "time bomb".  

I came upon this notion via a comment on our channel. Quoting directly from the comment: "I am not returning to Thailand until there is an alternative to the scammy and worthless Thai Health Insurance that is an actuarial "time bomb" designed to boot you out after you reach 70." Okay, a couple things going on here. I would say and this is from talking to clients, this doesn't pertain to me specifically so I prefer to gain some insight from people who actually have to deal with requirements before I comment on them on my personal opinion. A lot of folks have noted that they prefer to have insurance which they can maintain status on here in Thailand without the need for insurance, and many clients say "yeah I would prefer to have some sort of government mandated or otherwise health insurance coverage here in Thailand." I think to call it scammy and worthless I would say those are not the adjectives, that is not the phraseology I would use. Then there is this notion of being an actuarial "time bomb" designed to boot you out after you reach 70. I think what this commenter means is at 70 most folks are not going to be eligible to maintain their health insurance after that point in time. The thing that I believe that this commoner failed to fully understand, the nuance not being grasped is, there may be an alternative to an O-A Retirement Visa for that person most notably and we have discussed this at length on other videos on this channel, the O Retirement Visa. The O Retirement Visa is a differentiation of labeling but there is the O-A which requires insurance in order to maintain Retirement Visa status in Thailand and then there is the O Retirement Visa Extension which occurs in Thailand and that can be conferred by a Thai Immigration Office here in Thailand. 

I have discussed at length in other videos on this channel, this labeling may one day change. They may consolidate all of this and it may be a requirement for everybody. My gut, my instinct, my intuition if you will tells me that is probably not going to happen or I would say it is more likely than not that it will not happen because frankly the tourism situation here in Thailand in the aftermath of COVID-19 is not going to be pretty and I think that Authorities and policy makers are probably going to want to encourage not only tourists but foreign nationals bringing in foreign exchange. They are probably going to want to encourage those folks as much as they can. For this reason, I suspect retirees of any stripe that are maintaining a foreign bank balance or bringing in their pension money in order to live in Thailand, they are going to be encouraged to do that. So I don't see this O Retirement Visa extension method going away. It could in theory, but I don't see it happening any time soon. For this reason, again I don't view insurance as a "time bomb" because someone who is no longer eligible to obtain insurance could possibly convert into an O Retirement Visa from an O-A Retirement Visa, at least theoretically as of the time of this video or maybe leave the country again when that becomes more of a possibility and reorient themselves in such a way that they can maintain O Retirement Visa status thereafter. 

Again it is all going to be fact dependent. It is going to be very much based on the facts of a given case but yes I think it is probably erroneous or I would not use the phrase "Time Bomb" to describe this. 70 is not the cut off mark. It is possible to maintain lawful Retirement Visa status in the Kingdom of Thailand after one is 70 years of age.