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friend stuck in hospital with huge bill he can't pay,what now?


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Posted

A friend of mine had an accident in which he got a very deep cut in his leg and  he had to be operated on, he has just received the hospital bill and it's over 500,000 baht,he has no insurance and can only partly pay.What would the hospital do in a case like this?

 

And yes we already know that he should have had insurance,only helpful answers would be much appreciated.

Posted

if friend is thai, they can get loan from bank.

but if it is foreigner, it is just best to go away from thailand

Posted (edited)

That Bill is Quite Ridiculous,But as most have said Thai Hospitals Will & Do rip you off....

 

I Recently had a SMALL & I Mean SMALL Cyst removed from my hand,6 Stiches inserted, Whole Job took 10 Minutes & Cost me 7,000 Baht....& This was at the CHEAPEST Private hospital in Nong Khai...

Edited by Nong Khai Man
More Added...
  • Like 1
Posted (edited)
5 hours ago, glegolo said:

Yes I am also interested in what the outcome will be. Just to give something back to you. I can relate the following happening to my friend. He was operated on at a privat hospital,,,, it was a heart-surgery (stentoperation).. The insurance-company should and promised to pay for the check, up as well as the first baloon or stent... It was just one stent, so my friend thought,, great I am good....

 

But when it come down to it, the insurance-company <deleted> my friend over, and didnt pay a single shit. and left him with a bill of 193.000 baht.... My friends wife went down to the boss of the economic department at this hospital, and explain that the insurance-co screwed them over....

 

The hospital than asked. how much do you have? His wife said 153.000 in the bank. Well they said, pay that and all good.

 

So looking forward to your report...

 

glegolo

A friend had something similar happen in the US.

He had no medical insurance and had a large hospital bill.

They allowed him a low monthly payment plan, and after awhile forgave the balance.

 

Hospitals and doctors pad bills insanely in the US - this is in no way limited to Thailand.

Anyone who has medical insurance can look at the bill from a doctor or hospital, and then see that they accept a small percent of that as payment in full from the insurance company.

There is a lot of leeway for them to give an impecunious patient a large discount.

 

 

"A woman had a baby. Then her hospital charged her $39.35 to hold it."

 

https://www.vox.com/2016/10/4/13160624/medical-bills-birth-delivery

 

 

Edited by JimmyJ
  • Like 1
Posted

 OP, the bill seems way too high. I had a motorcycle accident and broke my leg underneath the knee four times. The doctor implanted a plate, and I was five days in a private room.

 

        A befriended nurse helped us to pay less for the room, but the whole bill was 128,000 baht.

 

        If your friend or you know a Thai person with some influence, it might help to have an amount reduced. And your friend, ( if it's not you..) should get in touch with his/her family and friends and get the money from them.

 

    Please don't rely on GoFundMe if there're people who can lend him/her the money. Paying back might show your friend that it was a mistake not to have insurance. 

Posted

Wow... 500,000 Baht for a laceration on his leg? I've never heard of a laceration that required surgery unless an artery was damaged.

 

I had an experience with the Thai hospital system here last year over a case of gangrene. The first thing they did was to run x-rays, two CT scans and a variety of different tests that had absolutely nothing to do with the affected area. After all was said and done, surgery, 3 weeks in hospital and all of the tests the bill was 140,000 Baht. In examining the hospital bill I saw that the surgery and hospital stay amounted to only 40,000 Baht.

 

When I returned for skin grafts 2 weeks later the same international patient representative ordered up the same tests. I refused. After the skin grafts and a 10 day stay in hospital my bill was only 40,000 Baht.

 

It's a scam the hospitals run by ordering up tests that have nothing to do with what is wrong with you. My son had a similar situation 5 years ago. This cost me 90,000 Baht.

Posted (edited)

Not visa related move to here.

Edit: And now a clean up of the topic to remove several inflammatory posts and replies to them.

Edited by ubonjoe
Posted (edited)
9 hours ago, LolaS said:

if friend is thai, they can get loan from bank.

but if it is foreigner, it is just best to go away from thailand

if friend is Thai no bill, hospital treatment for Thais is free.

 

I split my knee open a couple of years back, bill for repair in Thai government hospital 250bht.

If they had given me a bill for 500k, I would have laughed and walked away.

Edited by MaeJoMTB
Posted
14 hours ago, scubascuba3 said:

We need a ranking list of hospitals in Pattaya to choose based on cost/least likely to pad the bill

Since you brought it up can you do the leg work on it for us?

Go to every hospital and ask the head administrator your questions.

thanks 

Posted
Since you brought it up can you do the leg work on it for us?
Go to every hospital and ask the head administrator your questions.
thanks 
Sure I'll get right on it. My choice currently is Bang Lamung, over to you.

I wouldn't trust Memorial, Intl or Bangkok Pattaya to not seriously pad the bill or treatment
Posted

one way to avoid these absurd charges is DONT LET THE AMBULANCE take you to a private hospital,last nov.i had 5 seizure's during a couple of hrs.and the ambulance wanted to take me to a private hospital.but my wife stopped them ,there are plenty of good government hospitals,i have used 2 both with private rooms.and you pay the ambulance boys around 500bht.

Posted
2 hours ago, MaeJoMTB said:

if friend is Thai no bill, hospital treatment for Thais is free.

 

I split my knee open a couple of years back, bill for repair in Thai government hospital 250bht.

If they had given me a bill for 500k, I would have laughed and walked away.

I have a free treatments also, and I am not thai, it is called insurance, you should try it sometime,

 

if they didnt had insurance, they can eighter take a loan or negotiate. in case of farang I would just go

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