Hey,
So recently I got attacked by a dog on an island of Ko Phayam in Ranong province(I recommend to check it out). They only have small gov clinic, so I went there and received my shots and got the wound cleaned. They charged me only for the vaccines, which was 500b in total.
Now here is the weird thing. I work and pay taxes here, so I have the social security card, which I wanted to use to you know, have some of those tax money back as I still have to pay premium in the parks etc. They refused me and asked to pay in cash. I didn't argue, I just assumed it was because of the remote nature of the island.
I went for second shot to a prive hospital, which was covered by my insurance and third shot was done in Ko Phangan public hospital. The bill was little bit over 1k and they once again refused to take my social security card.
What's the deal here? Why do I even contribute towards public healthcare system if I cannot use it?
Don't get me wrong, 99% of the time I go to private hospitals anyways, I just want to understand how it works.