The move is intended to relieve the financial burden on local hospitals which have to provide medical services, sometimes without being able to recover costs.
Public Health Minister Pradit Sinthawanarong said about 2.5 million foreigners visit hospitals here each year.
About 40 per cent of those are expats living in Thailand, 20 per cent are tourists who visit Thailand for medical and healthcare services, 8 per cent are tourists who attend hospitals for general medical care and the rest are hospitalised in emergencies.
"Some of the last group could not pay medical service fees, resulting in a financial burden on local hospitals," the minister said.
Dr Pradit said both tourists and retired foreigners would be encouraged to buy travel or health insurance.
Longer term, he said the ministry is considering measures to force them to buy health insurance, possibly including a fee on their air ticket or a hotel tax.
The number of tourist arrivals in Thailand is expected to reach 30 million in 2015.
Sisdivachr Cheewarattanporn, president of the Association of Thai Travel Agents, said tourists who come with a travel agency usually have travel insurance. But tourists who come under their own steam and long-stay tourists might not buy insurance, he said.
He suggested the government find a measure to allow hospitals to collect medical fees through an embassy rather than forcing tourists to buy insurance.
Jetsada Jongpaiboonpattana, director of the state-run Vachira Phuket Hospital, said the hospital spent about 3 million baht last year on treating foreign tourists for free.
The cost involves medical services for accidents, emergency care and operations, and taking care of dead foreigners whose bodies were left at the hospital.
The hospital has now set up a foundation and accepts donations from patients to help pay for foreign patients who cannot afford medical fees.
Smith Prasannakarn, Chon Buri provincial public health director, said many state-run hospitals, particularly in tourist destinations, have to shoulder the cost of fees for foreigners. Banglamung Hospital in Pattaya spent about 2 million baht last year on foreign patients who could not afford the fees.
"As it is difficult to collect the money, the hospital considered it as a social responsibility," Dr Smith said.
The Public Health Ministry is also concerned by the increasing number of Thais aged 60 or over.
The number of elderly is expected to rise to 20 per cent of the population, or about 14.5 million people, by 2025. They make up about 12.6 per cent of the population now.
The government's health spending for the elderly reached 140 billion baht, or around 32 per cent, of total health spending last year.
Read the original story on the Bangkok Post here.