Dual pricing at Thai hospital case: Decision delayed after case handed to judges

[sucit]

As foreigners, you can’t be objective on this topic. This is the first thing to understand, 8If you are financially affected by a decision one way or another you will be biased.
 

Basically, you’re opinions are biased and don’t count from the get go. 

 

There are any number of legit reasons Thais may pay less than foreigners in government facilities and national parks. Every time you bring these reasons up you are met with emotional, subjective retorts, that… don’t mean anything. Here are even all sorts of examples in western countries where foreigners pay exorbitantly more than locals (but expats don’t complain in those cases, go figure).
 

You’re biased, your opinion does not count. It would be like a divorcee settling his divorce case. It’s ridiculous, you don’t get a opinion that actually counts. 
 

Private businesses are another matter I think though. And I believe that objectively it is wrong for private businesses to charge foreign customers more. 

[malthebluff]

4 minutes ago, Rampant Rabbit said:

Good  for  youMr Buse,  hope you  win but expect some obscure result

Even if he loses it's all about saving face in Thailand and racism is high in the media at the moment so hopefully something will change.. I hope so and hope more people like him stand up

[fabruer]

45 minutes ago, Almer said:

Make a stand and don't go in, which is what i did at an attraction, they lost 7 x80 baht 1 x150 and for sure a mountain of food and trinkets, but let it be known why on the day.

And you really do believe that park rangers would really care one iota about you making a stand?

 

I believe even employees at a private company wouldn't care. From my experience most employees understanding here it's their boss who pays their salaries, not their customers.

 

[Dazauz]

I salut you. Unfortunately we aren't all wealthy enough to stand up against the misinterpreted fact that all farang are rich. I would like to hear if there's lawyers her that work of a win case payed basé ? Not pro bono but payed if they win? 

[Bangkok Barry]

2 hours ago, d2b2 said:

Dual pricing, especially when condoned in the public sector, is blatantly discriminatory. It has far reaching consequences beyond economic. The government, any government, has no moral or ethical leg to stand on when participating in such a disgraceful and shameful practice. It simply must stop.

I don't think the Thai government gives a rat's fart what foreigners think.

[hotchilli]

22 minutes ago, Mansell said:

I had a similar experience, but my farang friend was from Hawaii and he looks like a Thai. He was standing next to his wife so she paid for them both at the Thai price, and I paid at the farang price. It’s actually a form of racism based on skin colour.

The old excuse was Thais were poor foreigners were rich, therefore they could afford to pay more to subsidise the attraction.

[paul1804]

16 hours ago, ezzra said:

And in many instances it dose, under the old and worn out excuse that Thais are poor while foreigners are "rich" maybe 40-50 years ago it would hold true, not now days though...

The problem is there are actually a lot of quite poor Thais so for public hospitals I think there should be a base fee to cover those that are needy! Not sure how this would be applied but definitley not all Thais are flush with cash.

 

 

[Bangkok Barry]

41 minutes ago, sucit said:

Here are even all sorts of examples in western countries where foreigners pay exorbitantly more than locals (but expats don’t complain in those cases, go figure).

You say 'here are examples' and give none. So we're waiting to hear from you again with facts. In many, probably most countries, dual pricing based on race is illegal. In Thailand it is government-sanctioned.

[Bangkok Barry]

9 minutes ago, hotchilli said:

The old excuse was Thais were poor foreigners were rich, therefore they could afford to pay more to subsidise the attraction.

But, of course, it is nothing to do with rich or poor. A Thai who drives a 3 million baht car gets Thai rates.

[Khun Yogi]

The Military hospital l use used to have signs up in English quite clearly stating that foreigners would be charged double the price of Thais. l notice that those signs have gone and l now pay B600 for a doctors visit and Thais pay B30 or B200. It is a damn good hospital, but l now have to look elsewhere.

[actonion]

My [Thai} wife and i were sitting at an outsside table at a  Pattaya Restaurant, i was staring at a  menu board in Thai language  belonging  to the Laundry next door..

 

I was interested as to why each item listed  had 2 prices,  ie;  socks, underwear,  shirts, etc ....I  asked my wife is  that price listing for large  & small items, she replied ,  no  its one price for Thai and  1 price for foreigners..........even in a laundry??

[bristolgeoff]

dual pricing exist everywhere in thailand we all know that.Even hospitals,in cnx chiangmai ram is more expensive than others in the area.Reason farangs have used go fund me before

[soalbundy]

1 hour ago, hotchilli said:

But it doesn't stop them from trying to keep it going.

A couple of years ago I went to Erawan National park with 9 Thai friends, they paid 40 baht each while I had to pay 400.... so my fee was more than them combined.

And they say they want to attract tourism.

Happened to me too so I caused a traffic jam by turning my car around on the narrow driveway into the park and left.

[bluejets]

Dual pricing in a form applies all over the world.

Most would know how airport cafes charge like scrub bulls ....hit the tourist/traveller.

Service station cafes the same thing when travelling around compared to your corner cafe.

Get over it and move on.......

If this bloke has cancer as they say, i'd say the stress would not be good for him anyhow.

 

I have no problem with paying extra to enter National parks or whatever or paying where Thai is free.

[sikishrory]

They also have different prices for insured and not insured which always annoys me.

I pay myself to get reimbursed later. It's awkward to say your not insured to get the lower price (incase your claim isn't approved) but then have to ask for a medical certificate typically needed for insurance.

I suspect a lot of people of not even aware of this.

[steven100]

31 minutes ago, fabruer said:

And you really do believe that park rangers would really care one iota about you making a stand?

 

I believe even employees at a private company wouldn't care. From my experience most employees understanding here it's their boss who pays their salaries, not their customers.

 

exactly .... Thai's are not known for thinking outside the box.  It's he pays me .... and that's it.

Park rangers couldn't care less if every farang didn't pay or enter.  Same goes for immigration, Big C or any other Thai conglomerate,  and the Thai government couldn't care less what farang think about Thailand and it's rules .... it's the same with any government, why should they.  You are a visitor and nothing more.  imo

[pvs1]

In my opinion, the dual pricing is unconstitutional.  I am a Thai citizen, but I don't necessarily look Thai.  I am often overcharged at hospitals (and other places) just based on my skin color.  From my perspective, this seems both racist and unfair.

 

In most cases, once I push the issue and show my ID, I am often given the "Thai price"; however, I have also been told many times, "you look western, so you can pay more", even after showing my ID card.

[Zack61]

Dual pricing is everywhere in many Asian countries. It doesn't make it right or easier to swallow but it does leave us with the decision of whether to support the practice or not. I choose to turn my back on it by not paying and telling them why. Often what you get at some of these "attractions" is very sub standard and one would feel ripped off even if you paid the local price.

Unfortunately I think it's here to stay and the judge's decision is already being dictated to him by the powers to be. If you don't try you won't succeed. Good luck Mr Buse.

[Grusa]

1 hour ago, Smokey and the Bandit said:

You may well be correct, in any eventuality it will be interesting to see how the judge justifies it, if it goes against the Dutch guy!

I do not believe judges here are accountable for their decisions, to anyone.

[Salerno]

12 minutes ago, bluejets said:

I have no problem with paying extra to enter National parks or whatever or paying where Thai is free.

I have no problem paying a reasonable surcharge to ensure locals can use/see national treasures/attractions at an affordable price - 10 x the price is not reasonable IMO.

[Joules]

2 hours ago, nobodysfriend said:

I went to the hospital with my thai wife to get a covid test that I needed to visit Phuket . It was 600 for her and 1200 for me . Why ? She is more rich than me by now ...

That's because she got your money.

[EvetsKram]

2 hours ago, thailand49 said:

I salute the guy for sticking to his guns Bravo!  I hope he is successful doing do it is a win for everyone.  Deep in my heart I hope I'm wrong but negatively towards their government leaders I would be very surprise if the good old boys network will rule in favor the saying " the more patriotic the more stupid "  these guys come from the same swamp they will stick together use their backward logic and come up with a smooth decision that they are protecting their people.

 

If it is against the law for duel pricing if the late HM, stated years back in one of his Birthday speeches even Puppet O, both have said duel pricing is an black eye on Thailand yet just last year the government past a law that it is o.k. for public hospital to start yet since then as far as I know no Thai is standing up saying this is a bad law. 

 

Regardless of who you are where you come from getting sick, having an accident particularly getting old no matter how much you work to take care of yourself your body wear and break down the last thing you want to do when it happens is to think you are going to be ripped off instead of Doctors and hospital treating you they only think $$$$.

 

Foreigners are also human we are not alone even the locals think the same it is all relative in terms of cost. I know a lot of Thais under their own system would not go to the hospital because of the cost until it is too late. Under their system if you aren't register in the province aren't eligible for the NHS you pay a bit more that bit more for a poor deter them from getting treatment.  The current pandemic has shown my statement shipping sick people on public transport back to their own province, labor contractor shipping infected migrant workers to other provinces like Chon Buri because the testing is free where as it is charged in others.

 

Stop the nonsense do what is humanly right otherwise it is time to stop using  " LAND OF SMILE "????

Fully agree with you.  It's a bad state of affairs when nationality determines cost of treatment,  government needs to act positively and end their dual pricing before anyone in private sector 

[richard_smith237]

17 minutes ago, Salerno said:

I have no problem paying a reasonable surcharge to ensure locals can use/see national treasures/attractions at an affordable price - 10 x the price is not reasonable IMO.

I think when dealing with this ’single facet’ most people do not have a problem paying what they consider a reasonable amount to see a ’national treasure or national attraction’.

 

However, the issue is multifaceted, one of the issues as you mentioned is the 10x the prices issue. 

 

The primary issue I have with this is that it sends the message to all that the foreigners do not really belong there / here - I find this attitude and its knock-on-effect distasteful. 

 

 

I have not once heard of or read a valid argument which justifies ‘dual pricing’ based on *nationality alone. 

 

 

Note: I wrote nationality, which is different from residency. Most foreigners on this forum are residents of Thailand. We don’t need to get into the semantics of the word residence or its relevance to Immigration status - What I mean by residency is that someone lives in a calls Thailand their home (i.e. has a Thai Driving Licence, a Phone Bill, Electric Bill, Rent / Lease agreement, Yellow Book, Pink ID, Non-Immigrant Visa etc).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Hawkman]

27 minutes ago, bluejets said:

Dual pricing in a form applies all over the world.

Most would know how airport cafes charge like scrub bulls ....hit the tourist/traveller.

Service station cafes the same thing when travelling around compared to your corner cafe.

Get over it and move on.......

 

That's not an example of dual pricing based on foreigners, skin colour or race though is it? A British person travelling through a Heathrow airport and stopping at a cafe will pay the same as a Chinese person in that cafe. Likewise, in service stations, they are not based on race or skin colour; which is the problem that people have.

 

Anyone who sticks up for the Thai dual pricing that is discriminating non Thais are either those Thai wannabe farangs or agree with discrimination; there is zero argument for it.

[Salerno]

3 minutes ago, richard_smith237 said:

I have not once heard of or read a valid argument which justifies ‘dual pricing’ based on *nationality alone. 

Agreed, I should have worded my initial post more accurately i.e. "As a tourist I have no problem paying a reasonable surcharge to ensure locals can use/see national treasures/attractions at an affordable price - 10 x the price is not reasonable IMO."

 

As you say, as a resident it becomes a different matter.

[Boyblue]

sllightly off topic, but similar, i had a coconut tree overhanging my roof, it was actually in my Thai neighbours garden, twice coconuts fell and smashed my roof tiles, i asked him to trim it so it wasnt over hanging, he wanted 10,000 to remove it. so i went to the local Police station, explained that i should be allowed to cut anything that overhung my property.

 

The Police agreed and said that was law in Thailand to be able to trim the tree, but we cant do anything for you and you cant do it yourself because "Farangs have no voice in Thailand".... directly from the RTP..... so i had to pay the neigbour to remove the tree, he wouldnt trim it down. so will Mr Buse have a voice? only time will tell.... good luck and well done for standing up for us all....

[thetravelbee]

Tourists should pay more? Not really convinced of the rationale of that statement. Also and more importantly, not because you ain't thai means you are a tourist. The thai really seem to struggle to come to terms with that notion. It's quite simple though. Let's try once again:  IT IS NOT BECAUSE I AM NOT THAI THAT I AM NECESSARILY A TOURIST. Any form of discrimination (positive or negative that is)  based on race or ethnicity is despicable!

[inThailand]

Would anyone be surprised that he wins the case, so they Look like they give a rats a.s, but it's scamming foreigners as usual?

[mikosan]

1 hour ago, JonnyF said:

Good luck to this guy. Overcharging for medical treatment based on nationality/race is a disgraceful practice. The apologists on here who say "get over it" would never accept ethnic minorities being treated like this in their home countries, but they're happy to be on the receiving end in Thailand. A very strange phenomenon indeed, it would make a very interesting psychological study.

 

The war memorial in Kanchanaburi is another great example of the absurdity of the practice.

• Thais side with Japan during WW2 to enslave British, Australian and US servicemen.
• Australia sets up and maintains a memorial about the events in Kanchanaburi, Thailand.
• Thais charge British, Australian and US tourists 10x the normal price to visit the memorial.

Amazing Thailand indeed.

I have visited Kanchanaburi and the war memorials in and around there, including Hellfire Pass and the museum, on numerous occasions, over the last 9 years. I have never been charged anything. Where are they charging people to visit? Is this a new phenomenon?

[Keesters]

17 hours ago, ezzra said:

And in many instances it dose, under the old and worn out excuse that Thais are poor while foreigners are "rich" maybe 40-50 years ago it would hold true, not now days though...

And seriously what has "rich" got to do with anything. Ones ability to pay "more" should not mean they have to. This double-pricing policy has only one thing driving it: GREED