US Social Security

[jballstate 326]

I an going to start receiving US Social Security in Feb 07 and I was wondering if there is any problem in receiving it in Thailand by direct deposit or through any other means? I plan to relocate to LOS in 2007.

[MrMango 665]

I an going to start receiving US Social Security in Feb 07 and I was wondering if there is any problem in receiving it in Thailand by direct deposit or through any other means? I plan to relocate to LOS in 2007.

When I lived in Jomtiem, I simply direct deposited it into my U.S. Bank Acct. and used my ATM card to withdraw funds.

 

I would double check on who pays for the Swift transfer fees if you try to direct deposit.

[irishman 0]

Another thing that you might want to consider is that if you indicate that you live outside the country for more than 6 months a year and are 65 or older, you won't have Medicare deducted from your payments and will be unable to get Medicare treatment when you are in the States. That might be something to think about.

 

I just have it deposited in a US account and withdraw by ATM also.

 

Cheers

[MrMango 665]

Another thing that you might want to consider is that if you indicate that you live outside the country for more than 6 months a year and are 65 or older, you won't have Medicare deducted from your payments and will be unable to get Medicare treatment when you are in the States. That might be something to think about.

 

I just have it deposited in a US account and withdraw by ATM also.

 

Cheers

Irishman - You fly a non U.S. flag, but you get a U.S. Pension - Good for you!

 

The rest of your post is not exactly correct. Medicare has 2 parts (Now 4 parts). One is hospital which is free to the recipient, and the other is the outpatient Doctor fees. These may be canceled if you do not pay the $100 or so, monthly fees.

 

Your hospital costs under part A are never canceled.

[jballstate 326]

You can cancel part "B" of Medicare if you like but if you ever want to reinstate it there is a 10% penalty added to the premiums for each year you did not have part "B". Part "B" is around $94 a month but no medicare will do you any good living in Thailand. You would have to fly back to the U. S. to use it.

 

It seems somewhat unfair to make you pay for part "B" if you cant use it but if you do not keep it up it would cost you an arm and a leg to reinstate it in later years.

 

I guess if you plan to live the remainder of your life out in Thailand you should just cancel the part "B".

There is no charge for part "A".

[ilovethailand 0]

This is a great topic for us guys in the US, please keep it going with as much information

as possible. THANKS !

[redwood13 56]

I believe I’ve seen something on thaivisa that indicates some guys do use direct deposit in a Thai bank for their SS benefits. I wouldn’t do it. For one thing, as you’ve seen from what happened last Monday, you simply never know what the Thais might do in the future re currency controls. I have my check deposited into a bank in California and using a repetitive wire transfer agreement I send money over by SWIFT every few months.

 

Re Medicare I’ll take this opportunity to add to the discussion.

 

I declined to enroll in Part B when I initially signed on for Social Security benefits and was self-insured on moving to Thailand as my age and pre-existing conditions (high blood pressure) precluded my obtaining health insurance here. That worked ok until last January when I had an episode of tachycardia.

 

Went to Bumrungrad and had a workup done. I had an echocardiogram and also a stress test. Given the results of those tests they wanted to do an angiogram which was priced at around 45K baht. I was fine with that, but there was also the possibility of my having to have an angioplasty procedure done depending on the angiogram findings. This is expensive and even more so if stents, which are priced in the neighborhood of 100,000-200,000 baht each, are needed. And of course any complications would really run up the total.

 

Meanwhile I was symptom free after starting on a new medicine (Tenormin + the Enaril I’d been taking) with no recurrence of the tachycardia and at no time did I have any chest pain. My lipids are within normal limits, but there is some history of cardiovascular disease in my family. So, I decided to enroll for Part B of Medicare. There is a limited enrollment period from 1 Jan. until 31 Mar. each year. Fortunately for me I was in that time frame, however coverage doesn’t start until 1 July. So I now pay $88 per month for part B coverage instead of the $55 I would have paid initially. My cardiologist and I decided I could wait until July to have the angiogram done and that I would have it done in the US.

 

As you know, unlike Thailand, in the US you can’t simply walk in to a clinic and be seen within a few minutes. I had made an appointment for an initial visit with a cardiologist in April for July and the earliest I could be seen was late in that month. As expected I had to have the stress test and echocardiogram repeated and that was 10 days following the cardiologist appointment. About a week later I had the angiogram done.

 

Results were normal.

 

It was done the University of California Davis Med Center which is in Sacramento. Procedure is essentially painless and the only hard part is lying almost flat on your back for about 6 hours following surgery. I worked in heath care for most of my life and I have nothing but good things to say about the care I received both in the hospital and as an outpatient.

 

Per the doctor’s instructions I waited about a week before returning to Thailand.

 

Costs? I think I’ve received and paid most of the medical bills and the total out of my pocket is about US$1,500. Additional were the travel costs and high expenses of living in California for 6 weeks and some personal shopping. No rent, as I stayed at my daughter’s house, but I’d sometimes do some grocery shopping and the total at a super market is pretty stunning. And a big benefit was getting to know my 18 month old grandson.

 

-redwood

[Owen` 2]

I'm some calendar distance from Medicare and given that distance I suspect knowing the intricate details of how it works may not have value (in that they'll change by then). Meaning, I may not understand some of what was posted above.

 

The concept of paying out of pocket for treatment in Thailand sounded like you were facing about 350K baht out of pocket at Bumrungrad. That's $10,000 USD.

 

Your alternative was $1500 for the procedure in the US, that did NOT require the stents and angioplasty that would have boosted the price up well above $1500 (given that you still had to pay 20% in the 80/20 Medicare arrangement, yes?). So . . . I can't be sure but it looks to me like the comparison should not have been Bumrungrad's $10,000 worst case number vs what actually happened (which was not worst case).

 

Also, many BMs might not have free rent available in the US while awaiting a procedure.

 

I may not have understood what you laid out, but from what I see it does not appear that out-of-pocket in Thailand was the inferior choice.

Edited December 22, 2006 by Owen`

[rogercw 3]

I opened an account at Bangkok Bank when I got here in June. They told me I had to wait six mo9nths before I could deposit a check. The time was up th 23rd. Went in yesterday and deposited a personal check on my BankAmerica account for 5,000 dollars. They put a 45-day hold on it. When the 45 days is up I will deposit another 5,000 dollars and start drawing living expenses out of one of the bank's ATM's. Account runs down, more deposits. Simple and the only fee was 370 baht. I assume There will be a small haircut on the currency exchange. Will find out when the check has cleared.

 

Of course, in case of problems, I have a Visa check card and a Mastercard credit card available.

[jballstate 326]

For those who maintain US bank accounts after moving to LOS, will those banks and credit card companys send your statements to you in LOS or do you have them go to a friend or relative in the US?

[Owen` 2]

For those who maintain US bank accounts after moving to LOS, will those banks and credit card companys send your statements to you in LOS or do you have them go to a friend or relative in the US?

 

 

There are many threads in search about state of residence for tax purposes. Just a heads up to all that this particular issue is much bigger than it seems. If you have a friend or relative willing to endure your mail (junk and otherwise) for years and years -- okay. But most probably don't and for them the paid maildrop services are called for.

 

Remember, your address (mail drop or whatever) needs to NOT establish some high state income tax state (like Calif) as your state of residency.

[Slobbert 0]

For those who maintain US bank accounts after moving to LOS, will those banks and credit card companys send your statements to you in LOS or do you have them go to a friend or relative in the US?

 

 

My bank sends me statements online. I'm comfortable with it and it works a treat.

[cowboy 0]

my suggestion would be to open a keypoint credit union account. I you have your SS check Direct deposited in your account then the account is free, Then the REALLY GREAT thing is all, ALL ATM transactions are free. If you a THAI bank and they charge you a fee then keypoint will refund it to you. doesn't matter where you use the atm, Keypoint refunds all fees.

 

in addition they have very low rates for wire transfers if you need to do one and free online banking. For more information go to

 

 

http://www.keypointcu.com/

 

 

cheers

[eltib 54]

Don't give the Thai banks more than you're required to give. It's just as easy maintaining a US bank account, and getting paid interest for it. The Thai banks will pay you $0.10 which is worse than a US checking account.

[jackcorbett 2]

For those who maintain US bank accounts after moving to LOS, will those banks and credit card companys send your statements to you in LOS or do you have them go to a friend or relative in the US?

 

For the past year and a half my bank has been sending me monthly statements to Pattaya. It only takes a week to ten days to get them. I also use Skype to stay in touch with my bank by voice and of course, email. Same with my C.P.A. in the U.S. But in the past few days I found out that my U.S. bank had finally implemented online banking. As for transferring money I have money wired from my U.S. bank to my Thai bank account every three to six months. I use ATM cards, one for my U.S. bank account and one for my Thai bank account. As for my credit card company I get my statements sent to me at my Pattaya address. I don't think I've missed a credit card statement or bank statement. I can also get my credit card statements online.

 

Far as taxes, I use the same version of Quickbooks as my C.P.A. I will shoot my company files onto a server online for him to peel off or email them to him. He will then send me my income tax returns which I will then sign and send in to the state or IRS, usually with checks included in them.

Edited January 17, 2007 by jackcorbett

[monsterman 0]

Don't give the Thai banks more than you're required to give. It's just as easy maintaining a US bank account, and getting paid interest for it. The Thai banks will pay you $0.10 which is worse than a US checking account.

SCB (siam Commercial) are paying me 4.37% at prsesent on my deposits.

 

monsterman