Finding the Right Insurance as a Dive Professional in Thailand

Health insurance, accident cover, diving exclusions and DAN diving insurance – what I learned after actually going through medical underwriting with several insurers in Thailand.

When I first started looking for private health insurance in Thailand, I honestly thought it would take a few days.

It took several months.

During that time I contacted multiple insurance companies and brokers, compared policies, studied policy wordings, completed medical questionnaires, submitted medical records and went through actual underwriting with several insurers.

The experience taught me one important lesson:

Choosing health insurance in Thailand is not about finding the highest advertised coverage. It is about understanding what the insurer will actually cover for you after underwriting.

A policy may advertise THB 10 million, THB 30 million or even THB 100 million of medical coverage. But that number means surprisingly little until you know the exclusions, premium loadings, occupational restrictions and renewal conditions that apply to you personally.

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Why This Matters for Dive Professionals

Working as a dive professional in Thailand is very different from having an office job.

A dive professional may spend hundreds of hours underwater every year while also operating or working around boats, handling heavy scuba equipment, travelling by road, working in wet and physically demanding environments and accepting a certain level of occupational risk.

In my own case, I make approximately 420 dives per year, with an average underwater time of around 50 minutes per dive and regular depths of up to approximately 32 metres.

That works out at roughly 350 hours underwater per year.

This turned out to matter considerably during insurance underwriting.

Some insurers were prepared to assess the risk individually. Others excluded certain diving-related risks. Some personal accident products would not accept professional divers at all, while two health insurance applications ultimately could not proceed because professional scuba diving or diving instruction was my occupation.

You will not discover these things simply by comparing premiums on an insurance website.

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My Situation

I am 46 years old, have lived in Thailand since 2011 and own Chang Diving Center on Koh Chang.

I am a professional diving instructor and instructor trainer.

Like many people in their forties, I also have controlled hypertension and treated elevated cholesterol.

During the application process I provided insurers with extensive medical documentation, including blood tests, medical reports and imaging.

My approach was simple:

Tell the insurer everything before buying the policy.

I would rather receive an exclusion, premium loading or even a rejection before paying for insurance than discover during a major claim that the insurer considers something undeclared.

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The Most Important Lesson: Get Underwritten Before Comparing

An insurance quotation and an underwriting offer are not the same thing.

A quotation tells you what the policy costs for a standard applicant.

Underwriting tells you what the policy actually costs for you and what it actually covers for you.

The difference can be enormous.

One insurer may initially look cheaper but add a 25% or 50% risk loading after reviewing your medical history.

Another may accept you at a reasonable premium but exclude certain medical conditions and their complications.

Another may offer excellent medical coverage but reject the application because professional scuba diving is part of your occupation.

My preferred process therefore became:

Quotation → Application → Full Medical Disclosure → Underwriting → Written Acceptance Terms → Comparison → Decision → Payment

Not:

Quotation → Cheapest Premium → Buy

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My Real-World Insurance Comparison

The following table reflects my own application and underwriting experience. It is not a statement that another applicant will receive the same decision.

Medical underwriting is individual and may depend on age, medical history, occupation, BMI, previous treatment and many other factors.

Separate Personal Accident insurance: During this comparison I also investigated standalone Personal Accident insurance. Pacific Cross did not accept my occupation as a professional scuba diver for its PA product. This is particularly interesting because Pacific Cross was nevertheless prepared to offer me its Maxima Plus health insurance, including outpatient accident treatment subject to the policy conditions.

Important: These are the underwriting decisions and conditions offered to me personally. They should not be interpreted as universal underwriting rules of these companies.

Allianz Ayudhya’s Double Care benefit increases the annual health coverage from THB 8 million to THB 16 million following the first qualifying Critical Illness diagnosis, with the increased limit continuing for the following four policy years.

A separate Allianz product – Superior Health Plus from Allianz Ayudhya General Insurance PCL (AAGI) – is also listed in the table. It is a standalone health insurance product and must not be confused with My Health Plus Double Care.

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Pacific Cross – What Remained Covered After Underwriting?

Pacific Cross was important in my search because it produced a complete individual underwriting result.

Initially, Pacific Cross Maxima Plus was interesting because it offered substantial health coverage and individual underwriting was completed. A written result was obtained.

Then came the turning point.

Once the final underwriting terms arrived, the exclusions substantially reduced the value of the policy for my particular situation.

The problem was not whether Pacific Cross would insure me. It would. The problem was what remained insured after individual underwriting.

The final Pacific Cross Maxima Plus terms included:

• Coverage: THB 10 million annual maximum
• Deductible: THB 40,000 per policy year
• Final premium: approximately THB 56,737/year
• Loading: approximately +25% BMI loading
• Individual exclusions: hypertension and related causes/complications; hyperlipidemia and related causes/complications; cervical/thoracic spine conditions
• Diving: Diving-related illnesses/injuries were excluded according to the individual underwriting result

Pacific Cross confirmed that the BMI loading could potentially be reviewed following documented and maintained weight reduction, subject to future underwriting reassessment.

However, possible future removal of the BMI loading did not solve the more important problem of the medical and diving-related exclusions.

The Premium Comparison That Mattered

The final premiums were actually very close:

• Pacific Cross: ~THB 56,737/year
• Allianz Double Care: THB 58,050/year
• Difference: THB 1,313/year

For only approximately THB 1,313 more per year, the individual Allianz Double Care counter-offer:

• had THB 0 deductible (vs THB 40,000)
• did not list an individual hypertension exclusion
• did not list an individual hyperlipidemia exclusion
• did not list an individual professional-diving exclusion
• had a much more narrowly defined individual medical exclusion focused on the cervical spine

Pacific Cross, by contrast, had a THB 40,000 deductible, BMI loading, hypertension exclusion, hyperlipidemia exclusion, cervical/thoracic spine exclusion, and diving-related exclusion.

Therefore, once the Allianz Double Care final counter-offer was available, Pacific Cross was no longer a serious candidate for my situation.

Status: Final underwriting terms received – not selected.

This comparison applies only to my individual underwriting results. Pacific Cross made legitimate individual underwriting decisions; they simply did not match my requirements.

What Pacific Cross Taught Me About Diving Exclusions

One useful clarification during this process came from Pacific Cross regarding diving exclusions.

Their health insurance exclusion refers to diving-related disorders and illnesses rather than simply excluding me because I work as a diving instructor.

Diving-related medical conditions were explained as including conditions such as:

• decompression sickness (DCS),
• barotrauma,
• arterial gas embolism (AGE),
• nitrogen narcosis,
• oxygen toxicity,
• and secondary complications resulting from these conditions.

The important distinction is causation.

A decompression accident after a dive would fall within the diving exclusion.

An unrelated medical condition would not automatically become a diving-related condition simply because I work as a diving instructor.

Health Insurance Accepted – Personal Accident Insurance Rejected

Pacific Cross also demonstrated something else that dive professionals should understand:

The company was prepared to offer me health insurance, but its Personal Accident insurance was not available to me because of my scuba diving occupation.

In other words, even products from the same insurance group can assess your occupation very differently.

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Allianz Ayudhya Double Care: The Policy I Ultimately Selected

After several months of applications, medical underwriting and comparing actual written counter-offers, I accepted the final underwriting terms for Allianz Ayudhya My Health Plus Double Care in September 2026.

The accepted counter-offer provides:

• THB 8 million annual health coverage
• up to THB 16 million annual coverage following the first qualifying Critical Illness diagnosis, according to policy conditions
• 0 THB deductible
• outpatient accident treatment included subject to policy conditions
• professional scuba diving occupation fully disclosed during underwriting
• occupational classification adjusted to Risk Class 4
• no individual professional-diving exclusion appears in the final counter-offer

Occupational Underwriting

Professional scuba diving was not hidden or treated as an informal detail. The insurer was specifically informed that I work in the diving business on Koh Chang and regularly dive to approximately 100 ft / 30 m.

After underwriting, my occupational risk classification was adjusted to Class 4, compared with Class 1 for a normal low-risk occupation. Rather than excluding my occupation, Allianz incorporated the additional occupational risk into the premium.

This is particularly important for dive professionals because it demonstrates that some insurers may accept the professional diving occupation after individual risk assessment, rather than rejecting it outright.

Medical Underwriting

My controlled hypertension was fully declared and additional medical information was requested during underwriting. The final counter-offer does not contain an individual hypertension exclusion.

Hyperlipidemia was also disclosed. No individual hyperlipidemia exclusion appears in the final counter-offer.

The final counter-offer also does not contain individual exclusions for cardiovascular disease or cerebrovascular disease.

The only individual medical exclusion stated in the final counter-offer relates to:

Cervical spine conditions and related muscular / neurological symptoms.

This wording is important. It should not be interpreted as excluding all muscular or neurological diseases generally. The exclusion relates to the existing cervical-spine condition and associated symptoms.

Final Premium

THB 58,050 per year

This includes:

• Life insurance premium: THB 7,030
• My Health Plus Double Care health premium: THB 42,273
• Additional health / occupational risk premium: THB 8,747

The optional ordinary OPD rider was not approved because of medical history / health condition. For my insurance strategy this is not a major disadvantage, because I was already considering self-paying routine outpatient expenses and the health policy includes outpatient accident treatment separately.

Status: ✅ Accepted and selected.

Important: This is my individual underwriting result. Another applicant with hypertension, hyperlipidemia, high BMI or a professional diving occupation may receive completely different exclusions, loadings or a different decision.

Why Is There a Life Insurance Component?

Double Care is a health rider attached to an Allianz Ayudhya Assurance life insurance policy. This is structurally different from standalone general health insurance.

In this individual proposal:

• Base policy: My Whole Life A99/20
• Life sum assured: THB 200,000
• Base premium: THB 7,030/year
• Premium payment period: 20 years
• Policy term: to age 99

The policy illustration contains guaranteed cash/surrender values and a maturity benefit. However, my health-insurance decision was based primarily on:

• health coverage
• underwriting result
• occupational acceptance
• exclusions
• deductible

The life component was not the primary reason for selecting this product.

Direct Billing and Claims Handling

The selected Allianz solution offers hospital network/direct-billing and pre-authorisation arrangements according to Allianz procedures and policy conditions.

The legal structure of the insurer matters, but the practical benefits and the actual issued policy matter more than simply labelling a product "life" or "general insurance".

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Same Allianz Brand – Two Completely Different Underwriting Results

This is one of the most important lessons from my entire insurance search.

Both products I applied for carry the Allianz Ayudhya brand. But they are issued by different legal risk carriers with different underwriting teams.

The same applicant disclosed the same core medical history to both products. The outcomes were dramatically different.

A brand name does not underwrite you. A particular legal insurer, product and underwriting team does.

The underwriting message from AAGI also explicitly stated that underwriting standards differ between the life and non-life insurance companies.

This has important practical implications:

• Acceptance by one company within an insurance group does not guarantee acceptance by another.
• Rejection by one legal insurer should not automatically be interpreted as rejection by the entire group.
• Different legal carriers can apply different underwriting standards even under the same brand.

Professional scuba diving was not stated as the reason for the Superior Health Plus decline. But because no policy was issued, I cannot claim that professional diving was "accepted" by Superior either.

Allianz Ayudhya Superior Health Plus – Final Underwriting Result

Superior Health Plus is a standalone general health insurance product from Allianz Ayudhya General Insurance PCL (AAGI).

For comparison purposes, Plan 3 offered:

• THB 10,000,000 maximum cover per confinement
• Published/standard premium at age 46 for Plan 3 / 10M / zero deductible: THB 48,663/year

That published premium was not a final individually underwritten premium.

Final underwriting result:

❌ DECLINED

AAGI declined the application after individual underwriting. The stated reason was the combination of hypertension, hyperlipidemia and high BMI.

This was my individual underwriting result. Another applicant may receive a different decision.

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APRIL MyHEALTH Thailand / Sompo

APRIL initially appeared to be a strong option on paper, offering THB 10 million annual inpatient cover with a THB 32,750 annual deductible.

The quoted premium before underwriting was THB 61,233.19 per year.

APRIL requested a detailed full medical underwriting questionnaire and additional information about professional diving activity, medical history and previous examinations.

I fully disclosed my professional scuba diving activity, including approximately 420 dives per year, regular depths of around 32 metres and no history of decompression sickness, barotrauma, diving injury or diving-related hospitalisation.

After completing the underwriting assessment, APRIL declined the application.

The stated reason was not my medical history. APRIL explained that professional scuba diving falls outside the insurer's underwriting criteria for occupations and activities they are able to cover.

In this individual underwriting case, APRIL confirmed that professional scuba diving was outside the insurer's acceptable occupational underwriting criteria.

For a professional dive instructor, this therefore made APRIL unsuitable despite the otherwise attractive policy structure.

Status: ❌ Declined – professional scuba diving occupation not accepted.

For dive professionals, this is an important reminder that the occupation itself can be decisive. A health insurance product may look excellent in a brochure, but the insurer may still decline the application entirely once professional scuba diving is disclosed.

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Krungthai-AXA: Closed – No Final Written Underwriting Offer

Krungthai-AXA iHealthy Ultra was another useful example of why underwriting needs to happen before comparing prices.

The initial quotation offered THB 10 million annual health cover with a THB 50,000 deductible per policy year at THB 29,155 per year before individual underwriting.

Preliminary underwriting feedback indicated that the application could potentially be accepted with a 50% BMI-related premium loading, together with exclusions relating to hypertension (including specified related cardiovascular / cerebrovascular consequences) and hyperlipidemia. Based on the communicated loading, the premium would have been approximately THB 43,733 per year.

That figure was calculated from the preliminary +50% indication. It was not a formally issued final premium or counter-offer.

I therefore requested formal confirmation of the exact exclusion wording, the conditions for future review of the loading and exclusions, and the final written underwriting terms.

No final written underwriting offer was subsequently received. A long-term private health insurance decision requires clear and documented underwriting terms, so I decided not to pursue the application further.

This should not be described as a formal decline by the insurer. For this comparison, the AXA case is simply closed because final written terms were never received.

Price alone is not enough to compare health insurance. A preliminary underwriting indication can look attractive, but exclusions, loadings and their exact written wording need to be confirmed before a policy can be properly evaluated.

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LUMA: When the Occupation Itself Becomes the Problem

LUMA was a useful example of a completely different underwriting issue.

The problem was not simply whether decompression sickness or another diving accident would be excluded.

The product excluded practising sport professionally, and after clarification I was informed that the application could not be accepted under this product if scuba diving or diving instruction was my occupation.

That immediately ended the application for me.

This taught me that every professional diver should ask two separate questions:

Is scuba diving covered?
and
Will you accept me if professional scuba diving or diving instruction is my occupation?

Those are not the same question.

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Health Insurance vs Personal Accident Insurance

This is another area where my opinion changed during the research.

Originally, my strategy was:

Health Insurance + Personal Accident Insurance + DAN

I no longer believe a separate Personal Accident policy is automatically necessary.

A good health insurance policy may already cover medical treatment resulting from ordinary accidents.

A separate PA policy may still provide additional benefits such as:

• accidental death benefit,
• permanent disability benefit,
• additional accident medical benefits,
• daily hospital income.

Those benefits can be useful, but the first question should always be:

What does my health insurance already cover after an accident?

Otherwise you may simply be paying for overlapping insurance.

For professional divers there is another complication: some PA products may reject the occupation even when a health insurer is prepared to accept it.

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DAN Diving Accident Insurance

One part of my insurance strategy has not changed.

As a professional dive instructor, I believe every diver – and especially every dive professional – should consider dedicated diving accident insurance.

Standard health insurance may exclude diving completely, impose depth limits, exclude professional diving or exclude specific diving-related illnesses.

DAN – Divers Alert Network – exists specifically for diving-related medical emergencies.

Typical diving-related problems can include:

• decompression sickness (DCS),
• arterial gas embolism (AGE),
• barotrauma,
• hyperbaric chamber treatment,
• diving-related evacuation and emergency assistance.

This makes specialist diving insurance fundamentally different from ordinary health insurance.

We also offer DAN short-term dive insurance for guests visiting Koh Chang.

For current DAN plans, benefits and prices, always check the latest information directly with DAN, as limits and premiums can change.

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Why Full OPD Cover May Not Be Necessary

My thinking about outpatient cover has also changed during this process.

OPD does not simply mean “accident treatment”.

Some health insurance policies already include emergency accident treatment or emergency-room benefits within the main medical plan.

OPD is primarily useful for ordinary outpatient healthcare such as:

• doctor consultations,
• medication,
• diagnostic tests,
• specialist consultations,
• physiotherapy,
• routine treatment where no hospital admission is required.

In Thailand, many smaller outpatient expenses are relatively affordable.

I therefore compare the additional OPD premium with the amount I would realistically expect to spend myself during a normal year.

For me, insurance should primarily protect against medical expenses that could seriously damage my financial future.

Small everyday medical bills are much easier to self-insure.

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Insurance Contacts I Used

During this insurance search I worked with both brokers and direct insurer contacts. Different people helped at different stages of the process, so I think it is fair to mention the contacts I actually worked with.

These are insurance contacts I personally worked with during my own insurance search. Their inclusion here is based on my personal experience. This is not a paid recommendation or affiliate arrangement.

One thing I learned from this process is that a broker and a direct insurer agent can serve different purposes. A broker can be very useful when comparing several insurance companies, while a direct agent may know the application process of one particular insurer in detail. I found both approaches useful at different stages.

An important practical lesson: do not assume that information submitted to one legal insurer within an insurance group will automatically be available to another legal insurer in the same group. Keep complete copies of applications, medical attachments, questionnaires, counter-offers and underwriting correspondence.

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Questions Every Dive Professional Should Ask Before Buying Health Insurance

1. Will you accept professional scuba diving or diving instruction as my occupation?
2. Is recreational scuba diving covered?
3. Is professional diving covered?
4. Is there a maximum diving depth?
5. Are decompression sickness, AGE and barotrauma excluded?
6. Does a diving exclusion apply only to injuries caused by diving, or can it also apply to ordinary accidents occurring during diving work?
7. Are ordinary accidents already covered by the health insurance?
8. What pre-existing conditions will be excluded after underwriting?
9. Does an exclusion also include causes, complications or related conditions?
10. Can exclusions be reviewed or removed in the future?
11. Will a medical or occupational premium loading be applied?
12. Can that loading later be reduced or removed?
13. Is the deductible annual, per disability, per admission or per claim?
14. Can co-payment be introduced at renewal?
15. Can the insurer refuse renewal because of claims?
16. Can an individual premium be increased because of future claims?
17. Who is the actual legal insurer or risk carrier?
18. Which country's law governs the policy?
19. Is pre-authorisation required before planned hospitalisation or surgery?

Get important answers in writing.

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What I Would Do Differently Next Time

Looking back at the process, there are several things I would do differently:

1. Prepare one complete medical disclosure package before approaching insurers. Include current medication, diagnoses, relevant laboratory results, imaging and relevant medical history.
2. Keep copies of every application and questionnaire. Do not assume information submitted to one company in an insurance group automatically transfers to another legal insurer.
3. Ask whether professional scuba diving / diving instruction is acceptable BEFORE spending weeks on medical underwriting. Some applications failed purely because of occupation, and I could have discovered that earlier.
4. Request exact exclusion wording in writing. Verbal explanations can differ from what appears in the policy.
5. Distinguish preliminary underwriting feedback from a formal written counter-offer. Preliminary numbers should not be treated as final policy terms.
6. Do not choose an insurer simply because the brochure premium looks attractive. Compare the final individually underwritten policy, not just the brochure.
7. Start early. This real process took several months.

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The Importance of Full Medical Disclosure

One principle became increasingly important during this process:

Disclose first. Discuss the underwriting decision afterwards.

I provided insurers with extensive medical documentation and, where requested, authorised insurers to obtain additional hospital records directly.

That may result in exclusions or premium loadings.

But I prefer knowing those conditions before I accept the policy.

The worst health insurance is not necessarily a policy with clearly defined exclusions.

A much worse situation is believing you are fully insured for years and only discovering during a major claim that the insurer disputes information from the original application.

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Thailand's New Co-Payment Rules

Another subject worth understanding is co-payment at renewal.

Newer Thai health insurance policies may contain provisions allowing a co-payment to be introduced in a future insurance year under conditions permitted by Thailand's insurance regulator.

This does not mean every insured person automatically pays 30% of every hospital bill.

The important question is whether your policy allows a future co-payment to be triggered following certain claim patterns and what conditions apply.

This is therefore another renewal condition that should be understood before choosing long-term health insurance.

Example of how renewal co-payment can work

A single large hospital claim does not automatically trigger a 30% or 50% co-payment.

According to Allianz Ayudhya’s published explanation of renewal co-payment rules for applicable newer health policies, both claim frequency and claim ratio matter. At least three qualifying inpatient claims within one policy year are required for these triggers.

• Simple diseases: three or more qualifying inpatient claims and qualifying claims of at least 200% of the annual health premium → 30% co-payment may apply in the following policy year.
• General diseases: three or more qualifying inpatient claims and qualifying claims of at least 400% of the annual health premium → 30% co-payment may apply in the following policy year. According to Allianz’s explanation, critical illnesses and major surgeries are excluded when determining claim frequency/ratio for this second trigger.
• If both conditions are met → co-payment may increase to 50% in the following policy year.

The assessment applies to a future renewal year, not retroactively against the hospital bills that caused the trigger. The co-payment status is reassessed at renewal and is not necessarily permanent. If the applicable conditions are no longer met in a later assessment period, the renewal co-payment may no longer apply.

Once renewal co-payment has been activated for a policy year, the applicable co-payment can still apply to covered treatment during that year according to the policy conditions – even where critical illness or major surgery treatment was treated specially when deciding whether a trigger was reached.

Simple numerical example: If the annual health premium is THB 50,000, then 200% = THB 100,000 and 400% = THB 200,000. Even a single THB 2,000,000 hospital claim would not by itself satisfy a trigger that also requires three or more qualifying inpatient claims.

These thresholds are based on Allianz Ayudhya’s published explanation of renewal co-payment rules. Not every Thai insurer necessarily uses identical wording. The exact policy wording and endorsements applicable to an individual contract always take precedence.

In the Allianz My Health Plus Double Care illustration reviewed for this article, the individual policy is shown with no co-payment and a THB 0 deductible at inception. The illustration nevertheless states that Allianz reserves the right to introduce co-payment at renewal if the claim conditions defined in the health rider are met. Allianz’s public explanation confirms the concrete 3-claim / 200% / 400% / 30% / 50% mechanism; the illustration confirms that a renewal co-payment provision applies to this Double Care contract. The final issued policy wording and endorsements remain legally controlling.

This is not unique to Allianz

Renewal co-payment provisions are not unique to health riders attached to life insurance.

Pacific Cross also includes a renewal co-payment mechanism in the official policy wording for its New Normal Lifestyle Series, which includes Maxima and Maxima Plus.

Under the Pacific Cross policy wording, a co-payment of up to 30% may be introduced at renewal when defined claim-frequency and loss-ratio conditions are met. If the conditions of both specified claim categories are met, the co-payment may increase to up to 50%. The wording also provides for reassessment of the co-payment and requires the applicable rate and conditions to be documented by endorsement.

This matters when comparing insurers: the possibility of a future 30% or 50% renewal co-payment is therefore not, by itself, a disadvantage unique to Allianz Double Care or to health insurance attached to a life insurance policy. Standalone health insurance can include the same type of renewal mechanism.

The exact trigger conditions and wording can differ between insurers and policy versions, so the applicable policy wording should always be checked.

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Final Underwriting Outcomes – September 2026

This is not a ranking. It is a record of actual individual underwriting outcomes.

Selected

Completed Underwriting – Not Selected

Declined by Insurer

Process Ended Without Final Written Underwriting Offer

Not Pursued

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Final Thoughts – What I Ultimately Chose

After several months of applications and underwriting, I accepted the final counter-offer for Allianz Ayudhya My Health Plus Double Care in September 2026.

The reason was not the highest advertised coverage, the lowest brochure premium, or brand loyalty.

The reason was the actual individual underwriting result.

For this applicant, Double Care produced the most suitable combination of:

• professional occupation disclosed
• no individual professional-diving exclusion in the counter-offer
• hypertension disclosed without individual exclusion
• hyperlipidemia disclosed without individual exclusion
• THB 0 deductible
• clearly defined cervical-spine-related exclusion
• THB 58,050 final annual premium

The final decision was not "Allianz vs Pacific Cross".

By the time the Allianz Double Care final counter-offer was available, Pacific Cross was no longer a serious candidate because of its final exclusions and conditions. The question instead became:

Does the final Allianz Double Care counter-offer provide coverage and underwriting terms that I am comfortable accepting long term?

The later Superior Health Plus decline then confirmed that there was no remaining solution in this particular search with a comparable individually underwritten combination of medical acceptance, professional-diving acceptance, deductible and exclusions.

The biggest lessons from this process:

Don't choose health insurance from the brochure.

The brochure tells you what a product can cover.

Underwriting tells you what the insurer is actually prepared to cover for you.

The problem is not only whether an insurer will insure you. The important question is what remains insured after underwriting.

Even two companies carrying the same insurance brand can reach completely different underwriting decisions.

There is no universal "best health insurance for dive professionals in Thailand".

The right policy is the one that:

• accepts your real occupation,
• clearly defines its exclusions,
• protects the major financial risks you actually care about,
• has a deductible you can comfortably afford,
• remains reasonably affordable as you get older,
• and gives you confidence that you understand what will happen when you make a claim.

If this article helps just one dive professional ask better questions before buying health insurance in Thailand, then all those months of research were worth it.

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Interested in becoming a dive professional? Read more about our professional diving courses or check our short-term diving insurance options for guests visiting Koh Chang.

Disclaimer: This article describes one individual's personal experience researching, applying for and undergoing medical/occupational underwriting for health insurance in Thailand. It is not insurance, legal, medical or financial advice. Underwriting decisions are individual. Another applicant may receive completely different exclusions, loadings, premiums or acceptance decisions. Product terms and premiums can change. Final issued policy wording and endorsements control. Readers should obtain current written terms from the insurer or a licensed broker/agent before purchasing any insurance product.