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

[rojaron]

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.

[RampersadT]

Why dont you explain the situation to the hospital and tell here what they say. 

[Get Real]

I guess he have to pay the bill anyway. Lucky that he got the operation before they found out that he was basically out of money.

[glegolo]

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

[bkk6060]

14 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

Sounds like a bargain for heart surgery.

[Rally123]

I'd like to help but I'm a little short after giving to all the other similar cases over the years. Hope yer friend gets better soon.

[scubascuba3]

I wonder if they just make the bill up and add loads of padding. Ask for a full breakdown. Licence to print money these hospitals, the billing dept must have a good laugh. I'm sure they are taking advantage of sick people

 

 

[samsensam]

guess he'll have to borrow from family and friends. or get family/friends to take out a loan for him - there will be someone prepared to loan the money though the conditions of the loan may not be all that attractive, but...

 

as an adult you make a choice; risk taker or risk avoider, if you choose to take the risk you have to be prepared for the possible consequences.

[Denim]

13 minutes 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

^ Insurance companies do that. They are not there because of some benign altruistic desire to help the afflicted. They are a business out to make a profit so that they can afford nice offices and the directors can have a flash car. If they can find a way , via small print , to have you over they will. Nothing personal,just business.

If you want to avoid any doings with them try to have a nice million baht in cash stashed away or at least a gold credit card with a decent limit that will cover your ass and give you months to pay it off.

[elviajero]

55 minutes ago, rojaron said:

What would the hospital do in a case like this?

Bottom line is that they can, with a court order, stop your friend leaving the country until the bill is paid or repayment agreed.

[LolaS]

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

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

[Orton Rd]

500k sounds like an outrageous price, unless he was in ICU for a while.

[BuckBee]

41 minutes ago, bkk6060 said:

Sounds like a bargain for heart surgery.

I wouldn't consider that a bargain for a basic stent implant . Lot of the private hospital billing is complete scam here, they rip thais off too with small opps that not really needed and several days in ICU to just bump bill up then send them home with a bag of coloured smarties lol .

[HLover]

Any ideas for travel insurance for these incidents?

[stigar]

He is stucked in thailand until he can pay the bill..thats it

[faraday]

500,000 baht for a deep cut in his leg?

I would ask to see a breakdown of the bill, maybe post it up.

I had a 4 hour op, it cost me 120,000 baht.

 

[BritTim]

As others have said, the bill sounds exorbitant. Would you care to name and shame the hospital?

The reputable hospitals, quoting reasonable charges will usually do their best to work with people who cannot pay (or, at least, cannot pay promptly). This may include writing off part of the amount if they see you as a hardship case.

[Nong Khai Man]

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...

[JimmyJ]

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

 

 

[jenny2017]

 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. 

[Fish Head Soup]

It comes down to one simple question which has a yes or no answer.

 

Before your friend received any treatment did they provide the hospital with Photo ID and sign an admissions declaration stating agreement to pay for treatment?

 

If yes, then then they need to pay.

 

If no, then they can walk away but will most definitely end up in a police station 'negotiating' a new price.

 

The patient could also talk to the finance department of the hospital to organize a payment plan, their will of course be interest added to the principle and will no doubt be a poor rate. Just remember that private hospitals here are extremely powerful institutions owned by some of the countries most influential people.

[PhuketRon]

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.

[ubonjoe]

Not visa related move to here.

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

[MaeJoMTB]

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.

[scubascuba3]

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

[bkk6060]

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 

[scubascuba3]

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

[meatboy]

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.

[HLover]

11 hours ago, HLover said:

Any ideas for travel insurance for these incidents?

Still no helpful ideas?

[LolaS]

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