Claim centres to track down tourists who skip hospital bills

[BritManToo]

8 hours ago, mania said:

Does a person go buy fire insurance only after their home is ablaze?

Off topic,

I live in a concrete and steel house, no need for fire insurance.

[Wake Up]

On 3/11/2019 at 6:19 AM, YetAnother said:

i see, so expats without insurance, many of whom won't know this new requirement beforehand , will be turned away and die at the front-door of the hospital; nice look for thailand

Same guys that gripe that immigrants are ruining their home countries should look in the mirror. Thailand owes you nothing, zero, nada,  nothing including free health care, food or housing. You are not a citizen here. You are an immigrant from another country that is retired and supposed to be capable of financially supporting yourself. If not then Thailand expects you to leave their country and not be dependent on their citizens resources and charity. 

[evadgib]

5 hours ago, mania said:

Same reason why hundreds/thousand of westerners get free coverage in their country...Because it is THEIR country

 

The Thai government (like your government) feels a responsibility to those born & raised there. Not to some expat looking for a retirement haven.

Your looking at it from a lofty position most Thai farmers never see in their lifetimes.

 

As for taxes...It is Thailand Tax bracket that states none who make under 150k a year pay income tax...so those you know may all make less than 150k

thus are exempt from paying

Secondly...All Thai people do in fact pay tax in the form of 7% VAT if they buy anything outside a Talad

...as do the rest of us.

[marcusarelus]

15 hours ago, Rally123 said:

The government should define as to the nationalities that default. I'd say it's not farang but Chinese/Asian to be the biggest defaulters.

Outside of outright bigotry/racism what evidence leads you to believe this?

Edited March 12, 2019 by marcusarelus

[marcusarelus]

1 hour ago, BritManToo said:

Off topic,

I live in a concrete and steel house, no need for fire insurance.

 

[zydeco]

58 minutes ago, Wake Up said:

Same guys that gripe that immigrants are ruining their home countries should look in the mirror. Thailand owes you nothing, zero, nada,  nothing including free health care, food or housing. You are not a citizen here. You are an immigrant from another country that is retired and supposed to be capable of financially supporting yourself. If not then Thailand expects you to leave their country and not be dependent on their citizens resources and charity. 

I think most all of us do pay our own way and more. But what about the Thais in my country, who are not citizens, yet get the benefit of free emergency hospital care and never need pay a cent, because in the US, if you have an emergency, the law requires any hospital receiving medicare (which is just about all of them) to treat and stabilize patients without demanding money?

[Ruud4u]

A calculation:

300 million baht is about 8 million Euro. 

There are about 300,000 expats from WESTERN Countries living in Thailand. Average spending € 1,000 per month >>3,6 billion € per year or 130 billion baht. 

The missing amount if it should be only from Western expats be 0.23% of their yearly expenses. 

And I believe that from those 300 million most are not made by Western expats. 

BUT it is good that they try to receive those amounts from those persons or countries. 

BUT don't create many obligations in insurances cause most Thai either don't have. 

BTW most expats are over 60 years and had a medical problem in the past, so No insurance company want to accept them against normal tariff. 

First create an acceptable solution and make than new rules! 

[Mavideol]

1 minute ago, Ruud4u said:

A calculation:

300 million baht is about 8 million Euro. 

There are about 300,000 expats from WESTERN Countries living in Thailand. Average spending € 1,000 per month >>3,6 billion € per year or 130 billion baht. 

The missing amount if it should be only from Western expats be 0.23% of their yearly expenses. 

And I believe that from those 300 million most are not made by Western expats. 

BUT it is good that they try to receive those amounts from those persons or countries. 

BUT don't create many obligations in insurances cause most Thai either don't have. 

BTW most expats are over 60 years and had a medical problem in the past, so No insurance company want to accept them against normal tariff. 

First create an acceptable solution and make than new rules! 

and the point is/being.....

[Captain 776]

15 hours ago, evadgib said:

No it wont. They won't take a blind bit of notice and will continue to hold the ppt. The only option for the holder is to apply for a new one or (if tourist) an ETD.

That is exactly as I saw.

I was in the business office for Bangkok Pattaya Hospital, getting a quote to have my knee replaced.........there was a German guy there with an 800,000 bill for some heart surgery he had........he was telling the hospital to give him his passport so he could go to Germany and get the money.........it went on for 20-30 mins while I was there..........the German said to the guy with him, he talked to German embassy or consulate, whatever Germany has here and they said if he has outstanding bill with hospital, he must work it out with the hospital.........makes sense to me.

From the back n forth I witnessed, I was confident if that a German got on a plane, the hospital wasn’t going to see even one BHAT.

 

Then I had my issue resolved and left......no idea what the final outcome was......but in that case German embassy was not getting involved in an outstanding hospital bill.

[mania]

2 hours ago, BritManToo said:

Off topic,

I live in a concrete and steel house, no need for fire insurance.

555 yes but on topic...you would not go to buy fire insurance once your house was ablaze because...well it wouldn't be ablaze would it? ;)

[mania]

6 hours ago, mania said:

Secondly...All Thai people do in fact pay tax in the form of 7% VAT if they buy anything outside a Talad

 

1 hour ago, evadgib said:

...as do the rest of us.

Of course & all foreigners in the USA pay excise tax when they purchase things in most States...You don't see the USA giving them all Medicare ????

 

Remember about the tax comment I was answering this post saying not all Thai's pay taxes & they get govt provided Health Care

 

 

  11 hours ago, AdamTheFarang said:

I know dozens of Thais that pay no taxes, why are they covered? 

Edited March 12, 2019 by mania

[otherstuff1957]

300 million baht in unpaid bills.  Over 30 million tourists arrive in Thailand every year.  A simple calculation shows that the cost of unpaid medical bills is 10 baht per tourist.

 

Rather than have all of these visitors buy some sort of insurance, it would be simpler to simply charge everyone a 20 "baht medical coverage fee" upon entry and put that money into an unpaid bills fund that hospitals could apply to for compensation.

Edited March 12, 2019 by otherstuff1957

[mommysboy]

24 minutes ago, otherstuff1957 said:

300 million baht in unpaid bills.  Over 30 million tourists arrive in Thailand every year.  A simple calculation shows that the cost of unpaid medical bills is 10 baht per tourist.

 

Rather than have all of these visitors buy some sort of insurance, it would be simpler to simply charge everyone a 20 "baht medical coverage fee" upon entry and put that money into an unpaid bills fund that hospitals could apply to for compensation.

Yes, this was suggested earlier on and is a good idea, although I think 20 baht would likely not cover the administration, so 200 baht would be more likely.  Still, it's a great idea in principle, but you know what would happen?.... less and less people would take out health insurance.

[Peterw42]

5 minutes ago, mommysboy said:

Yes, this was suggested earlier on and is a good idea, although I think 20 baht would likely not cover the administration, so 200 baht would be more likely.  Still, it's a great idea in principle, but you know what would happen?.... less and less people would take out health insurance.

Also people with pre-existing conditions would start planning to come to thailand for later (free) treatment. 

[Rally123]

3 hours ago, marcusarelus said:

Outside of outright bigotry/racism what evidence leads you to believe this?

Based on the tourist numbers from those countries. Obvious innit?

 

 

[tideout]

For those who are offended by this and are heading to the "Shangri-la" of Vietnam, better-have-your-ATM card, this is the norm here for either Vietnamese or foreigners. Oh, and don't forget to have someone designated to bribe the nurses regularly or you may be in jeopardy without it.

[fouryesrs]

On 3/11/2019 at 12:21 AM, HiSoLowSoNoSo said:

After being charged two-tier Farang prices in Thai hospitals,  "Som Nam Nah" comes to mind.    

i think this usualy happens in private hospital s not in government hospitals...but i could be wrong

[fouryesrs]

On 3/11/2019 at 1:12 AM, moonseeker said:

Seems it is mostly travellers from third world countries and/or countries with some kind of gov. healthcare who have no concept of taking out proper insurance while traveling or retiring abroad  and expect a foreign country to pick up their medical bills. Bit shortsighted or even dumb IMO. Good medical care here often runs more expensive than back home. Come prepared.... MS>

there are no affordable options in the free market..that is why thailand have to tax the industrie for having free medical service for its citicens...and they also invite pensioners from all tge world to retire there...this semi citicen status should at least come with an affordable insurance 1000 bhat a month example

[Youlike]

On 3/11/2019 at 7:06 AM, inThailand said:

Yup they wheeled my bed to the hospital ATM which they extracted from my wallet when I was unconcious. No money no care! 

And what if you show them your healthcare number from your homecountry? Would you still have to pay cash?

[superal]

Local Government Hospital Experience

was a post that I made recently which debated the state hospital charges to farangs and I made the point that fees had risen significantly and also the hospitals had been instructed to ensure that they billed the farang appropriately . My bill of 5300 baht for 1 nights admission was confirmed to me 2 days ago by an employee at the same hospital to be the farang charge which is much higher than that of a local Thai . So to all of those who said there is no tier charges I am telling you there is . Further more I also mentioned the need for a state health insurance scheme to be mandatory for long stay retirees as private medical insurance costs are beyond most of us in our late 60 s and 70 s etc . For sure all tourists to have holiday insurance which will bring to and end all of these so called " Fund Me / Get Me home " pleads . One thing that did spring to mind is that the latest visa monetary laws can require a long stayer to have 4/800 k baht in their account and that lump sum alone should be taken into consideration as a means of paying the hospital bill  .  BTW my bill was passed to me by the hospitals accounts after my first nights stay and early in the morning whilst still recovering from my malady .

Now if mandatory private health insurance was ordered that would be the final nail in the coffin for most of us retirees but that's not going to happen , is it ?

 

 

[Mark mark]

On 3/11/2019 at 6:21 AM, HiSoLowSoNoSo said:

After being charged two-tier Farang prices in Thai hospitals,  "Som Nam Nah" comes to mind.    

I think this article refers to Government Hospitals, ... that from my Experience are actually quite Cheap. .... Som Nam Nah ? .... well, just maybe "Folang Kileliel", like expecting a free ride, ? ... or worse just being Corrupt ? (Like F' Thailand ? they are just Brown Bunnies any way ???)  .... But White Corrupt ? So OK right ?

 

... ... I will get medical insurance if I have to, and I CAN see that as an Old Person, it would be well worth while.

[rott]

On 3/12/2019 at 12:20 PM, Mavideol said:

and the point is/being.....

Pretty much self-explanatory, if you cannot see it it is because you do not want to.

 

But horrible gits who renege on hospital or any bills should be taken to account.