Need information on the cost of living in Thailand

Just joined this evening, a cold winter night here in NY City....
First I should thank all of you for the contributions you've made to help people like me.  Big thanks and I hope to reciprocate
I have been to Thailand a few times on business but never lived there.  I did grow up in Western Europe so I was once an expat.  Am hungry for a change
Am really interested in getting a good handle on the cost of living, including health insurance.  Any help or direction would be appreciated
Thanks
BB

Hello Bahiablue,

Welcome to Expat.com :)

A new thread has been created with your post on the Thailand forum for a better visibility.

Shaazia
Expat.com Team

www.numbeo.com/cost-of-livinggated community and drive a BMW, same for food when you read in the forum people eat cheap in market that is true if you live like Thai people as the way they live is link to their average salary which can be very low 15,000 / 20,000 THB per month.

There is one website where you can compare 2 cities, the link compare New York with Chiang Mai, having a look at the datas they are not too bad. I put currency in THB but you can change it in USD, sure it will be factor by exchange rate.

http://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/co … rrency=THB

You can find also informations about healthcare, there are 2 things to know IPD and OPD.

IPD is Inpatient and OPD Outpatient, you can take IPD only or IPD+OPD. Many will say that IPD is recommended and no need to take OPD as doctor cost is cheap but again it will depend on your health situation, think how many time you visit your GP in your country to balance.

You can get online quotation as it will depends on your age and cover ( different plan they propose ), as well some age limitation in some cases, or some critical illness can be excluded depending on what you choose. Roughly count around 25,000 THB to 50,000 THB this is a wide range as many parameters will enter into account ( just for example I pay 50,000 THB for me and my daughter, 38,000 THB for my mum as she is older but price will be different depending on healthcare company obviously )

Best of Luck in your search
Regards
Kris

I have been looking at various health insurance plans for several months. I just received the most recent quotes last week. They truly do cover a wide range depending on your age, your health and what type of insurance you are looking for. These latest quotes varied from a low of 15,0000THB for a very basic Thai Health plan to 100,0000THB for top-of-the-line insurance. These are all in-patient only.

The number of zeros in your quote figures, chinacanuck, had me mystified! Can you clarify please? What does it equate to in US or Australian dollars?
Thanks

oops! lol too many zeroes!  15,000 to 100,000 baht...slip of the finger.  This would be $450-3000/year. It seems that $1800-2000/year would be the most I would need to spend for decent coverage.