Tourist police to the rescue - British pensioner has no relatives left and owed 17,000 baht to the hospital

[EricTh]

 17000 baht charge just for 4 days in  hospital? That's too expensive.

[kingdong]

54 minutes ago, steven100 said:

so he has been here 15 yrs and has no money and no relatives. geeeze .... 

he certainly didn't plan his exit.  Go fund me ... here we go again.

I say raise $800 and throw him on the plane to the UK.  One way ticket. 

Your kindness and compassion has warmed the cockles of my heart.

[JoePai]

44 minutes ago, Somtamnication said:

I love it how the armchair judges look down on this guy. Maybe he did have an exit plan but it failed? He lost his wife 2 years ago. A million things could have happened to him between his wife's death and today. 

 

So it's ok for him to drive around Thailand without even 17k in the bank ?

[JoePai]

4 minutes ago, EricTh said:

 17000 baht charge just for 4 days in  hospital? That's too expensive.

You obviously do not live in Thailand if you say that

[kingdong]

8 minutes ago, robblok said:

Yes but if he had started 15 years back and kept up payments then there would have been no problem. These guys make it that immigration forces us to have insurance. When i got here first thing I did was arrange insurance. Its a matter of priorities.

Ever had d health insurance? It goes up every year20 years I had it and when I needed it it wasn,t worth a toss.

[Oldie]

26 minutes ago, Canuck1966 said:

Assist him getting back to the UK, do you have zero empathy?

Why don't you help him if you have so much sympathy and let us know the outcome afterwards? Many people say a lot but do little to nothing. Try to be different. It is easy to type something here...

[geriatrickid]

1 hour ago, Wiggy said:

No surprise. It has ceased being an embassy and has become a trade mission.

What do you expect the embassy to do for him? He's an expat without money, who should not be in Thailand since he cannot take care of himself.   The embassy is not a social service agency for people like this.  He's already getting money from the state.

Yes, people have mishaps. However, let's not  play the sob story angle. This guy was probably having a  good time when he was younger and didn't prepare for his old age. It was his decision, his choice, his lifestyle. Let him deal with it and take responsibility for his own debts.

 

 

[orchis]

time to sell the car.

[robblok]

8 minutes ago, kingdong said:

Ever had d health insurance? It goes up every year20 years I had it and when I needed it it wasn,t worth a toss.

Can you read ? I said the first thing i arranged was health insurance when I came back 15 years. I have used it. So far I paid more into it then i took too.. boo hooo...  but it could have been different. 

 

Most people take the gamble and then moan when it goes wrong and let others pay for them / don't pay. Because of the people that arent paying now it wont be a choice anymore. Soon it will be all mandatory. 

[Ron jeremy]

3 minutes ago, orchis said:

time to sell the car.

It's a bmw.

[chrisandsu]

18 minutes ago, JoePai said:

You obviously do not live in Thailand if you say that

Government hospitals are 60 baht . 

[Oldie]

1 minute ago, chrisandsu said:

Government hospitals are 60 baht . 

Before it was 30 Baht if I remember correctly. But this is only for Thais. 

[darksidedog]

A number of abusive and personal posts have been removed, and a goodly number of replies which resulted from them.

One member has a posting holiday already, so cut it out and stick to the topic unless you want to be next.

[steven100]

1 hour ago, jimmjam said:

Where would he go once he gets to the uk?

The streets?

He has no family, so obviously no house in the u.k.

And the housing department wouldnt be very helpful in finding him a place to stay.

If he only has a pension he wouldnt be able to live in the u.k anyway unless he gets free housing which would take forever.

what do you think is the answer for old folks in his situation  ?

[transam]

1 hour ago, Retarded said:

So relocating to Thailand is not a solution for loneliness and peaceful retirement. 

His Thai wife died...PLEASE read the whole article before you post .....????

[BritManToo]

2 hours ago, webfact said:

When he was a bit better he had racked up a bill of 17,100 baht but had no money to pay.

17kbht for 4 days in a Government hospital sounds a little excessive.

Usually 200-300bht/day in the public wards, did they get the ',' in the wrong place?

[CaptainCarrot]

1 hour ago, Canuck1966 said:

He will probably be on the basic pension of say 650 quid per month

If he lives frugally he can live on that, especially if he has a cheap room and eats locally

He will obviously struggle with larger bills as he's living month to month

17k is approx 435 quid so it would be most of his income

He's been living in Thailand since he retired, so his pension is pegged at what it was the day he retired. Nearer to 400GBP/month I think.

[BritManToo]

26 minutes ago, Oldie said:

Before it was 30 Baht if I remember correctly. But this is only for Thais. 

I pay 50bht to see a doctor in the government hospital, very reasonable price.

(That's the charge for any person not registered to that hospital under the Thai '30bht' scheme)

[colinneil]

32 minutes ago, Oldie said:

Before it was 30 Baht if I remember correctly. But this is only for Thais. 

I have only been asked to pay 195 baht at the local government hospital for having my catheter changed.

Porters lifting me in/ out of our pickup, taken to the emergency room, nurse changes the catheter, back to the pickup, so not only Thais.

[ezzra]

with so many well to do foreigners in Thailand, until date there isn't one body that has formed and that can help and rescue a foreigner in true distress thinking that embassies can solve all problems, about time someone will pick up the glove and do something about and show the Thai people and the government that foreigners can look after their own...I'll put my baht where my mouth is and will donate what ever is needed...

[stephenterry]

10 minutes ago, CaptainCarrot said:

He's been living in Thailand since he retired, so his pension is pegged at what it was the day he retired. Nearer to 400GBP/month I think.

I'm the same age as him. My frozen UK pension is £600 a month. And at my age no insurance company that I know of, provides cover after 75 - or maybe at best, a ridiculously high premium. 

 

If I'm hospitalised, I'll use my savings. 

[worgeordie]

People like this are going to make the Government bring

out the insurance requirement for all retirees ,which i

don't want, as too old to get cover,and prefer to cover

myself with my own funds,instead of having to buy 

cover that might not be suitable

regards Worgeordie

[smedly]

2 hours ago, webfact said:

When he was a bit better he had racked up a bill of 17,100 baht but had no money to pay.

assuming he is on a retirement extension then he must have either an income of 65k a month or at least 400k in his bank account, 17k baht is a small amount compared to what he should have

 

but of course there are many that just pay a bribe to get round the rules

 

also since he is driving his own car he can't be totally broke

 

something just not adding up with this story

[smedly]

2 hours ago, sanuk711 said:

It's not a fortune is it....& the Thai's have acted quite well with him.

But it is another brick in the wall of people who have the opinion that all non Thai residents should have insurance. Sometimes its hard to argue the case against it.

wouldn't be an issue if he was following the rules - read my above post

 

the mandatory Thai insurance for O-A visa types provides 400kbaht cover - it is no accident that those on extensions need to retain 400k in their bank accounts 12 months a year - and IO explained some time ago that that is exactly what the retained 400k balance was for - insurance

[kingofthemountain]

36 minutes ago, ezzra said:

with so many well to do foreigners in Thailand, until date there isn't one body that has formed and that can help and rescue a foreigner in true distress thinking that embassies can solve all problems, about time someone will pick up the glove and do something about and show the Thai people and the government that foreigners can look after their own...I'll put my baht where my mouth is and will donate what ever is needed...

Maybe a job for Theodore?

 

 

[smedly]

2 hours ago, sanuk711 said:

I know Kieth101 I am around the same age with no insurance cover...(but enough savings if needed) ........17K it really isn't a lot of money, but he is paying none of it---and saying he has nothing. There's No, I get a pension can I pay 500 baht a week?.....or I have money for my visa can I pay some back latter--- he just drove himself there and checked in and ended up getting a bed & food after.

 

Then we have to read page after page of how evil and untrustworthy the Thai's are.....

people like him make it difficult for the rest of us who do things by the book - sell his car and deport him

[nausea]

This is the Thailand I love. A lot of these small acts of kindness go on all the time, all over the place, you never hear about them much though. Live here for a while and you realise your average Thai is a pretty decent bloke, or blokess.

[Oldie]

53 minutes ago, BritManToo said:

I pay 50bht to see a doctor in the government hospital, very reasonable price.

(That's the charge for any person not registered to that hospital under the Thai '30bht' scheme)

Is it still like this? I think they changed this. Even a year before this change they charged me 500 Baht for a doctor at the Pattaya City Hospital. But I remember when I went to the Banglamung hospital about 20 years ago. They didn't know what to charge me as foreigner and so I paid nothing at all. But I am afraid this time is over. 

[smedly]

everyone is assuming he has no money 

 

my take on the OP is that he is refusing to pay by saying he has no money 

 

he of course does have money - he has at least a government pension and likely a work pension also so why is he refusing to pay the bill - that is not entirely clear

[smedly]

5 minutes ago, nausea said:

This is the Thailand I love. A lot of these small acts of kindness go on all the time, all over the place, you never hear about them much though. Live here for a while and you realise your average Thai is a pretty decent bloke, or blokess.

very true but there is also a dark side