Currently, Thailand does not require health insurance from travelers.
A country with some of the loosest entry requirements for visitors is tightening its regulations. Thailand wants to make health insurance mandatory for international travelers. Each year, hospitals absorb millions of baht in unpaid bills from tourists who leave the country without paying.
The lack of insurance is straining the country’s medical infrastructure, especially as inexperienced tourists drive motorcycles and get into accidents. The director of the Vachira Phuket Hospital, Weerasak Lorthongkham, told the Bangkok Post that the hospital in Phuket serves more than 1 million tourists each year, along with 400,000 residents. Tourists with little experience on Thai roads often injure themselves while riding motorcycles, and substance abuse is another reason they end up in the hospital. “Each year, we absorb about 10 million baht [$30,000] in treatment costs for foreign patients without insurance.”
He also described a case involving a Russian tourist who suffered a spinal injury and needed long-term care, but the hospital could not contact the family. Ultimately, the hospital paid for the tourist’s return. The treatment cost more than a million baht ($30,000).
Annually, Thailand absorbs at least 100 million baht ($3 million) in unpaid medical bills, according to the Ministry of Public Health. These costs cannot be recovered from embassies or consulates because they are considered personal expenses. The U.S. State Department makes it clear that it does not pay medical bills in foreign countries.
Insurance for a two-week stay would cost an average of 1,100 baht ($34) and cover a tourist for up to 9 million baht ($275,000). Thailand is also considering an entry fee of 300 baht ($9).
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This issue has also surfaced in Japan. Foreign travelers receive treatment and leave without paying, forcing hospitals to cover the costs. Japan is considering making insurance mandatory for travelers after losing more than 61 million yen ($425,000) in unpaid bills from 5,500 hospitals in the first nine months of 2024. It may also ban people from re-entering the country if they have pending medical bills.
Many countries require visitors to have insurance as a visa condition. Travel insurance is mandatory in the UAE, Qatar, Argentina, and 29 countries in the Schengen region for stays longer than 90 days.
Good to Know
To enter Thailand, American travelers do not need a visa if their stay is less than 60 days. However, they must fill out a form and register before arriving. This registration requires travel information, personal details, and a disclosure of where travelers have been in the past two weeks. People arriving from high-risk countries may be asked for a yellow fever vaccine.
The U.S. also reminds travelers that consulates and embassies do not pay medical bills. Medicare does not apply outside the U.S., and U.S. insurance won’t cover you, so supplemental insurance to cover medical evacuation is recommended–one such service provider is MedJet.
It’s also important to note that Thailand is under a Level 2: Exercise Increased Caution travel advisory. The State Department discourages travel to border areas due to armed conflict with Cambodia.
