Insurance Firms Hesitant To Provide COVID-19 Insurance Coverage After Heavy Losses

After incurring losses from COVID-19 claims, several Thai insurance firms admit hesitant to issue COVID-19 insurance coverage to foreign tourists entering Thailand under the existing guidelines.

According to the Tourism Authority of Thailand’s deputy governor of marketing communications Siripakorn Cheawsamoot, they are now in talks with the Office of the Insurance Commission for a possibility to make COVID-19 insurance coverage “optional”  to foreign tourists as only a few companies are interested to join the Test & Go program.

Even though Test & Go restarted on February 1, the number of visitors remain low compared to November reopening, when the program was first launched.

Isolation is costly for any traveler in Thailand. The deputy governor said that the cost of 10-day hotel isolation starts at 20,000 baht. Under this package, 3 meals each day are included and telemedicine from a partner hospital.

“While we wait for the Office of the Insurance Commission (OIC) to finalize an insurance plan, we need to expand the availability of inexpensive hotel isolation for affected travelers, so they do not have to spend more than 100,000 baht for treatment.”

The Public Health Ministry has approved the operation of isolation rooms on hotel properties in major provinces for asymptomatic travelers.  This is to assist hospitals to avoid reaching their bed capacity limit due to not sufficient number of beds or are unable to afford them.

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