Medical Insurance Thailand – The Dilemma

[BritManToo]

11 hours ago, Max69xl said:

Government hospitals don't have same routines as private hospitals. I know for sure that earlier it was easy to leave without paying and some hospitals didn't even ask for the passport. At private hospitals the don't let you go anywhere on your own before paying the bill. 

Been here ten years, never found a government hospital that let me in without my passport (or a large cash deposit up front). My Thai family always had to produce their ID before any treatment.

Edited November 4, 2019 by BritManToo

[StevieAus]

On 11/2/2019 at 5:22 PM, ukrules said:

I'm referring mostly to short term visitors.

 

Get run over by a car while on holiday in England and need a few days in the ICU and a couple of operations, no problem, it's free of charge.

 

In Thailand that's millions of Baht. That's why I spend thousands of pounds every year on top notch insurance.

 

It's also much more expensive for the basic insurance option here in Thailand than the paltry 400 pounds per year (15,600 Baht) they charge in the UK on a long term visa.

As I understand it there is no free treatment for Thais or any other visitor according to what I have read on the NHS website, they will not refuse to treat you but expect you to pay whether they get the money is another story,

I have a friend in the UK who works for a large hospital in a London who told me it’s a big problem regarding non payment and have someone whose job entails seeking to recover the cost of treatment unsuccessfully in most cases.

To confirm the above on a trip to the UK a couple of years ago my Thai wife took ill and visited a hospital in Manchester they said she would be expected to pay for the treated.

When she produced her Aus passport she was told that under a reciprocal agreement with Australia she could have “emergency” treatment for free.

It was rather academic as we have worldwide medical insurance.

[StevieAus]

1 hour ago, BritManToo said:

Been here ten years, never found a government hospital that let me in without my passport (or a large cash deposit up front). My Thai family always had to produce their ID before any treatment.

That’s been my experience with our local hospital in the North although they accept my pink ID card.

To be fair the cost of treatment which has only been outpatient and minimal  has never been raised before treatment.

At the end they tell you to go to another area to pay.

[Max69xl]

2 hours ago, StevieAus said:

As I understand it there is no free treatment for Thais or any other visitor according to what I have read on the NHS website, they will not refuse to treat you but expect you to pay whether they get the money is another story,

I have a friend in the UK who works for a large hospital in a London who told me it’s a big problem regarding non payment and have someone whose job entails seeking to recover the cost of treatment unsuccessfully in most cases.

To confirm the above on a trip to the UK a couple of years ago my Thai wife took ill and visited a hospital in Manchester they said she would be expected to pay for the treated.

When she produced her Aus passport she was told that under a reciprocal agreement with Australia she could have “emergency” treatment for free.

It was rather academic as we have worldwide medical insurance.

A tourist from Thailand staying in the UK less than 6 months has to pay,unless it's an emergency. No free treatments for short term tourists. In many countries within the EU a travel insurance is required to be able to apply for a visa. 

[micmichd]

On 11/3/2019 at 10:59 AM, roobaa01 said:

it is very simple ....1. those new applicants on all visa categories to be requested a health insurance .

2. those already approved inside to be requested to join the public health care system with mandatory contribution as for example in germany.

 

wbr

roobaa01

Sorry, I joined the public health care system in Germany. They will not pay a penny because Thailand is not part of the EU. 

[justin case]

if only our home countries would implement this bullcrap on thai citizen living in our countries, nahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

[5633572526]

On 11/2/2019 at 5:17 PM, regularguy said:

My proposal would allow anyone to deposit 440,000 bhat into a dedicated Hospital Savings Accont (HSA). You could open this account at participating Thailand banks. The bank could get a small fee to open this special account. With this dedicated HSA account the banks would only allow you to do a debit transaction at any Thailand hospital by locking in only hospitals by merchant ID number. You would get declined if you tried to use it for any other type transaction. You would also not be allowed to do an atm withdrawal. If you closed the account at anytime during your extension you would not be able to get the next extension.

 

Each year prior to going to immigrant for extension you would get your bank letter and passbook updated just like those using 800k balance. If you useany of the money in the account during the year you just reload the account back to 440k prior to the next application date. If you don’t use the funds that year, you just carry over to the next yea.

 

This solves the problem of age restrictions and pre-existing condition exclusions and less paperwork for the hospital having to deal with insurance coverage issues

Or they could just let people who can’t get insurance elsewhere buy into the National system. job done