I just try to avoid to use any service where I feel cheated. If possible I use the medical service in my home country. It costs about the same and it is better than in Thailand. In Thailand you have some good doctors but also many bad doctors. I don't like to play lottery when I visit a doctor. 

17 hours ago, monkfish said:

Well this should please those who are happy to pay more Thai's club what next dual pricing at supermarkets and restaurants.

An example from the link below
 

For example, an HIV test costs 160 baht if you’re Thai. It goes up to 240 baht for working expats and then to 320 baht for retirees and tourists.

Or, a spinal MRI examination will cost Thais 18,700 baht. That jumps to 23,375 baht for working expats and 28,050 baht for retirees and tourists.
 

https://thethaiger.com/news/national/foreigners-crying-foul-over-the-new-dual-pricing-policy-at-thai-public-hospitals

Will this mean dual pricing at private hospitals in the future?
 

cost me 21, 500 for CAT scan at Bkk Pattaya hospital...Jan 2012

17 hours ago, Mango Bob said:

No matter what a Thai government hospital charged I would never use one.  I been to one with my wife  The doctor was an idiot.  I knew more than he did.

That is fine if you are moneyed. Unfortunately, the pricing at private hospitals is becoming prohibitive, and the very expensive private insurance such as BOOOPA (B73K for me this year) does not provide enough coverage to adequately take care of anything serious at a private hospital

12 hours ago, trigpoint said:

The Navy hospital in Sattahip has been charging foreigners more for years, there's  a sign that says, Thai price to see doctor 50bht foreigner 500bht. 

You got a picture of that?

14 hours ago, Matzzon said:

Complaining over rules and regulations, complaining over Thai thinking, values and culture. Complaining over all they can complain about. That´s the real people that should be blacklisted for life.

Yes, such an excellent idea for a supposedly democratic country -- blacklist all those who express their opinions.  How refreshing.

     My god what a bunch of cry babies.  We're foreigners living here and we should be charged more--at public  hospitals, at public parks, at public  museums--whatever.  I'm not a Thai citizen and I am not paying a Thai income tax so I should pay more.  Get over it.

     There are examples of dual pricing all over the world.  Foreign students taking classes at the college where I worked in the US paid three times what state students paid. Out of state students paid more, too, but not as much as foreigners.  So, three prices in place--similar to this Thai medical pricing--foreigners the most, foreigners from adjacent countries also more but not as much as other foreigners.  Makes sense.

     Anybody thinking that Thais are getting a free ride with medical care, let me tell you that's not always the case.  Maybe government workers and the destitute do but not always ordinary Thais.  My Thai spouse's mother, 88 with no health insurance, has been in and out of hospitals for about 3 months now and the bills are approaching 2 million baht.  

    Something simple like a broken arm might be low cost but when you get into an illness like cancer that has spread to other organs with a lot accompanying complications it certainly is not.  Bangkok hospitals are over-crowded and it has been a struggle to find doctors to do the operations and find hospitals with a bed.  ICU is expensive.  When she is ready for the next step of cancer treatment we are faced with two choices--one is much more expensive but has fewer side effects. Both are expensive--one is just a lot more expensive.  Neither is cheap--even for a Thai. 

     

    

17 hours ago, monkfish said:

Well this should please those who are happy to pay more Thai's club what next dual pricing at supermarkets and restaurants.

An example from the link below
 

For example, an HIV test costs 160 baht if you’re Thai. It goes up to 240 baht for working expats and then to 320 baht for retirees and tourists.

Or, a spinal MRI examination will cost Thais 18,700 baht. That jumps to 23,375 baht for working expats and 28,050 baht for retirees and tourists.
 

https://thethaiger.com/news/national/foreigners-crying-foul-over-the-new-dual-pricing-policy-at-thai-public-hospitals

Will this mean dual pricing at private hospitals in the future?
 

After everything that is said and done, one of the main attractions of Thailand for nasty, greasy foreigners is that it is affordable. "Medical tourism" is an industry.  Stop making it affordable and eventually people will stop coming.  

1 hour ago, bluesofa said:

Even allowing for the flight it's still a money-saver. Insurance companies realise that as well, sending patients to Thailand for non-urgent operations.

I have never heard of any insurance company sending patients to Thailand for non-urgent operations.

Please provide proof, or I call BS on that.

It seems that nobody realizes that Thais do not have to pay in the gov hospital appointed to them at all. Not even the mandatory 30 baht. The old pricelist of the hospital was for the group of cash paying patients that was based on non-profit, and that included foreigners also. Government hospitals are not allowed to make profits. Government hospitals are not subsidized but are self sufficient. It is the free healthcare for Thais that is subsidized but you can't ask the cash paying patient to pay that bill. That bill has to come from the government tax. And yes, foreigners also do pay tax, they do not have tax exempt. But the government is not willing to cover the full expenses of the rising cost of the free healthcare.

7 minutes ago, newnative said:

     My god what a bunch of cry babies.  We're foreigners living here and we should be charged more--at public  hospitals, at public parks, at public  museums--whatever.  I'm not a Thai citizen and I am not paying a Thai income tax so I should pay more.  Get over it.

     There are examples of dual pricing all over the world.  Foreign students taking classes at the college where I worked in the US paid three times what state students paid. Out of state students paid more, too, but not as much as foreigners.  So, three prices in place--similar to this Thai medical pricing--foreigners the most, foreigners from adjacent countries also more but not as much as other foreigners.  Makes sense.

     Anybody thinking that Thais are getting a free ride with medical care, let me tell you that's not always the case.  Maybe government workers and the destitute do but not always ordinary Thais.  My Thai spouse's mother, 88 with no health insurance, has been in and out of hospitals for about 3 months now and the bills are approaching 2 million baht.  

    Something simple like a broken arm might be low cost but when you get into an illness like cancer that has spread to other organs with a lot accompanying complications it certainly is not.  Bangkok hospitals are over-crowded and it has been a struggle to find doctors to do the operations and find hospitals with a bed.  ICU is expensive.  When she is ready for the next step of cancer treatment we are faced with two choices--one is much more expensive but has fewer side effects. Both are expensive--one is just a lot more expensive.  Neither is cheap--even for a Thai. 

     

    

88 yo and cancer? she should take the train out of town and be done with it - and yes, I will, if that ever happens to me.

At some point we have to come to grips with the problem of older people driving up health care costs to stratospheric levels.

1 hour ago, Nowisee said:

 

I'm just starting to choke down the fact that I have to put money in a thai bank If I decide to stay here.  

Mandatory insurance is a mandatory no for me and a mandatory adios.  

Legally approving double pricing for substandard health care...these people have become seriously greedy pigs.  

1. Force them to give us money that they can't spend.

2. Force them to buy overpriced insurance.

3. Force them to pay more for everytime they want to visit hospital.

 

Yeah, seems that way.

 

Either make every foreigner have insurance. or charge them double. By doing both, you are just a racist country. 

Only Thailand could write racism and ageism into a single law.  Why not make men pay more than women also for the trifecta?

14 minutes ago, newnative said:

My god what a bunch of cry babies.  We're foreigners living here and we should be charged more--at public  hospitals, at public parks, at public  museums--whatever.  I'm not a Thai citizen and I am not paying a Thai income tax so I should pay more.  Get over it.

     There are examples of dual pricing all over the world.  Foreign students taking classes at the college where I worked in the US paid three times what state students paid. Out of state students paid more, too, but not as much as foreigners.  So, three prices in place--similar to this Thai medical pricing--foreigners the most, foreigners from adjacent countries also more but not as much as other foreigners.  Makes sense.

Only to a racist does it make sense.

17 minutes ago, TheDutchEngineer said:

You got a picture of that?

I use the hospital every 6 months ,that is correct it does say that foreigners are charged more ,but its still quite cheap.

17 hours ago, Neeranam said:

Would a retiree in the USA get more expensive hispital fees. Thought so.

I can use my insurance there

It will fail by its own. If they want Thailand to be a medical hub it simply cant. Go to Pakistan, India, Malaysia or even The North Pole to get cheaper treatments! At the same time the tourism minister talks about stopping dual pricing.. Did he literally only mean in national parks or?

This country gets better and better by the minute!!

Nothing has changed since foreigners were always charged much more than thai in major hospitals. Where this hurt is that not only the service and treatment but medicine also are overcharged for foreigners 

Another "nail in the coffin" for the tourism industry, that is already slowly going down the girgla in Thailand..

 

Just need the international press to expose that it is now officially ok for government hospitals to gouge up to a 100% surcharge for being a foreign tourist or expat retiree.. 

 

I was paying a 25% "foreigner" surcharge at a Bangkok hospital clinic which I could bare, but up to 100% surcharge is absolutely crazy. 

So now the private hospitals, most of which already have a three-tiered pricing system, will have to  increase their charges so as to stay "in-line" with the government hospitals.

That will have a major impact on the cost of medical insurance for expats

19 minutes ago, Time Traveller said:

Only to a racist does it make sense.

There's nothing 'racist' about it.  Thai is not a race.  Foreigners come in all races.  It would only be racist if the pricing was based on race.   

If this a compromise for O-A visa insurance, glad they did it.

 

I have adequate insurance in the form of a HSA (Health savings account). Most Americans will know what is an HSA. It must be backed by a catastrophic insurance. Money put into an HSA account is tax free. 

This falls in line with the feeling of being treated like an animal, if you go to Khonkaen Zoo its the same dual pricing

Hey retirees, have you gotten the clue that THEY DO NO WANT US EXPATS HERE, yet?

 

From immigration retardation, to the most senseless work permit process ever, and now let's toss it up your yeeto with medical hikes.... 

 

DONE

I would gladly pay for a government expat insurance scheme. Been twice to the government hospital.. Great service

18 hours ago, Tropposurfer said:

Private top medical coverage ... never going near a public hospital !

i think in Thailand it all a lottery 

So they legalised dual pricing for big hospital and big pharma instead of getting rid of it. Looks like my noodles will be going up as well. But you'll get to go to Wat Pho at the same price as Thai (free) right? 

What's new...?   really.

get a good insurance!

Just another example of They don't want us here. 

Dual pricing, now at hospitals, what's next?????