Covid patient's near 1 million baht bill was all covered by insurance/state says top hospital

[webfact]

 

Samitivej Srinakarin hospital in Bangkok put the dampers on what Daily News called a hospital drama.

 

An online post on the Mor Lab Panda site had claimed that a Covid patient had to pay 989,670 baht after a 17 day stay in ICU at the expensive hospital.

 

The original bill topped one million but there was a 50,000 discount.

 

Samitivej said that three insurance companies came through on 307,765 baht of the bill and the rest was paid for by the state as part of the Gold Card universal health care scheme in the sum of 681,905 baht.

 

The patient didn't have to pay a single baht.

 

-- © Copyright Thai Visa News 2021-05-08

 

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[Shuya]

Most expensive covid treatment in Thailand ever: 1 Million Baht. Foreigner covid insurance requirement for COE: 3,5 Million Baht. Thank god it's not a scam...

[RichardColeman]

Be interested to know if he actually needed to stay in an ICU or was put in there as they needed the money

[ronaldo0]

So was the person just sitting in an icu ward or were they receiving life saving treatment and on life support etc ?

What is the gold card scheme ? Never heard of it .

[kuzie57]

Gold card has been in place for a number of years. Google it.

[kuzie57]

40 minutes ago, ronaldo0 said:

So was the person just sitting in an icu ward or were they receiving life saving treatment and on life support etc ?

What is the gold card scheme ? Never heard of it .

 

Just now, kuzie57 said:

Gold card has been in place for a number of years. Google it.

 

[metisdead]

A troll post has been removed.

[Emdog]

50k discount.... made me think hospitals need to start "buy 1 get 1" scheme
"Got Covid? Check in XYZ hospital and get free coverage for granny"

[chickenslegs]

1 hour ago, ronaldo0 said:

What is the gold card scheme ? Never heard of it .

Used to be called the 30 baht scheme - Free health cover for the masses.

[DefaultName]

I don't see nationality mentioned, but I doubt if this was a Thai 

[Sheryl]

7 minutes ago, DefaultName said:

I don't see nationality mentioned, but I doubt if this was a Thai 

 

Has to have been Thai. Only Thais are covered under the Gold card scheme.

[Colabamumbai]

4 hours ago, RichardColeman said:

Be interested to know if he actually needed to stay in an ICU or was put in there as they needed the money

Knowing insurance and govt. Will pay the bill, the sky is the limit. 

[unblocktheplanet]

17 days? The governor of Samut Sakhon was in Sirirat for 82 days, 40-some on a ventilator!

[impulse]

3 hours ago, unblocktheplanet said:

17 days? The governor of Samut Sakhon was in Sirirat for 82 days, 40-some on a ventilator!

 

Yeah,  but when you see the live piano player in the Samitivej lobby, you kinda figure your bill's gonna hurt more than a normal hospital.

 

And you have to be more specific about Siriraj.  There's Siriraj for the VIPs and the Siriraj for the rest of them.  Buildings are in the same general location, but worlds apart.

 

Edited May 8, 2021 by impulse

[asiaexpat]

Thai law requires ANY hospital to provide emergency care for anyone until they can be transferred to a more appropriate hospital and the Universal Healthcare System will pay. In this case it appears the person was in ICU, thus emergency care. Very rare situation. 

[robblok]

19 hours ago, RichardColeman said:

Be interested to know if he actually needed to stay in an ICU or was put in there as they needed the money

With a shortage of ICU beds, you can be sure it was needed. I know foreigners like you love to bash Thailand but believe me in times like this they need every ICU bed they can find. Nobody will have to stay there when its not needed. They can get their beds filled at any time currently.

[poskat]

how is the fact that a person's medical bills were covered by their insurance news?

 

is not getting screwed over by the system so uncommon in thailand that it is actually news?