Hospital charging 159k for birth package, website says 99k

[jspill]

A Bangkok hospital my wife gave birth at on Saturday has an all-inclusive 'Normal Delivery package' price valid until June 2022 of 99,000 THB.

 

If it wasn't a caesarian, which it wasn't, and that includes 2 days overnight stay.

 

They phoned me a couple hours after delivery while my wife was still going to be there for 2 more nights, and I was still there as well, hadn't left yet. They were quite pushy about getting me to pay right then, 159,000 baht, and weren't really clear over the phone about why the cost was more. They started saying the room is 16500 per night but then acknowledged two nights were free. She also said food but meals are included apart from extra a la carte ones. We hadn't had any of those.

 

There were no birth complications, or 'high risk underlying conditions', which are in the T&Cs for reasons for extra charges. I had already paid the 3k baht for a covid test which they get everyone to pay. 

 

I'll get them to produce a list of all the charges and ask them why it's so much more tomorrow, but has anyone experienced this? I assume I can't name the hospital for defamation reasons but just Google the package and price.

 

They did mention 'PPE' over the phone. They said my wife tested positive on the day and moved her and the baby to a covid ward in a separate part of the hospital. But surely I'm not paying 60% more just because the staff are wearing PPE in that ward.

[soi3eddie]

1 hour ago, jspill said:

They said my wife tested positive on the day and moved her and the baby to a covid ward in a separate part of the hospital. But surely I'm not paying 60% more just because the staff are wearing PPE in that ward.

Congratulations on your new arrival. It would appear the answer to the extra charges is that a Covid baby costs more! But are your wife and new born free to leave after just 2 more nights? Something sounds wrong. Always best to get in writing/email before admission (of course not all admissions are planned well in advance).

 

 

[scubascuba3]

You should have agreed the 99k package in advance because they won't miss an opportunity to stiff you.

 

The story smells of falang price

[BritManToo]

Should have used her government hospital.

Free.

 

Anyways,

Just pay the 99k as previously agreed and tell them to take you to court if they want more. Take a screenshot of the website showing 99k before it disappears.

[Sheryl]

5 hours ago, soi3eddie said:

Congratulations on your new arrival. It would appear the answer to the extra charges is that a Covid baby costs more! But are your wife and new born free to leave after just 2 more nights? Something sounds wrong. Always best to get in writing/email before admission (of course not all admissions are planned well in advance).

 

 

As above.

 

Being placed in COVID isolation does indeed cost vastly more.

 

"PPE" was just the finance person's garbled effort at explaining why COVID hospitalizations are so costly. There are many more costs involved. Including medications specific to COVID.

 

The package price would have been for room on the normal delivery ward, not a a room in the COVID ward.

 

But one would expect there to be other consequences to a positive COVID test  as well. Especially in a newly postpartum woman.

 

Until recently COVID care was supposed to be free for all Thais, even in private hospitals (which were reimbursed for it, but at a rate they do not like). However  I believe that has changed regarding non-emergency COVID care in private hospitals.  

 

To have avoided extra charges you would probably have needed to refuse when they contacted you after delivery about the positive COVID result and insisted on transfer to a government hospital at that point. It would, however, have been pretty unpleasant for your wife.

 

Do insist on seeing the lab result showing positive COVID test, and on seeing an itemized bill. There may be some room for negotiation depending on how they have calculated things-- for example making sure that  every aspect of the delivery is charged per the original package and that the room cost is only whatever is additional.

[jspill]

Thai hospitals only accept patients that have been vaccinated for covid, my wife said. So we had to go private. In the past we used Thai hospitals for births.

 

Yes we were free to leave after 2 days.

 

It ended up increasing even more to 179k, they gave an itemized bill and some things on there I'd said I didn't want, like a hearing test for 1.5k, but they did anyway. 

 

They removed that, and when I kept asking why the package says 'all-inclusive 99k' they said ok let us 'check that'. Then after a while they reduced it to 169k.

 

The bill is vague and I have no way of knowing really what's justified based on the covid ward and what isn't. Oh well thanks for all the advice

[ChaiyaTH]

Packages are usually just the basics and every birth is different in detail, for what needs to be done or how long things take. Mine actually turned out cheaper at the time as things went much faster and smoother than they expected.

 

Anyway, what is the point, that a website shows something does not make you legally own it. Just wait until the kid is there + needs school, you lose a lot more on vague bills. 

Baby vaccins that are the same at any hospital costing 700 baht in public and 5-6K in private.

[scubascuba3]

12 minutes ago, jspill said:

Thai hospitals only accept patients that have been vaccinated for covid, my wife said. So we had to go private. In the past we used Thai hospitals for births.

 

Yes we were free to leave after 2 days.

 

It ended up increasing even more to 179k, they gave an itemized bill and some things on there I'd said I didn't want, like a hearing test for 1.5k, but they did anyway. 

 

They removed that, and when I kept asking why the package says 'all-inclusive 99k' they said ok let us 'check that'. Then after a while they reduced it to 169k.

 

The bill is vague and I have no way of knowing really what's justified based on the covid ward and what isn't. Oh well thanks for all the advice

another farang gets milked, so the hospital will continue to do it

[Dogmatix]

You should check the small print. We got a package at a very good price for c-section at BNH last year and they did a terrific job without charging any extra, except for extra consultations requested by us. But the small print said the price was contingent on not testing positive for COVID among other conditions. In that case they would charge normal rates because additional precautions would be necessary. I asked them to clarify before we took the PCR tests and they were perfectly upfront about it.

[BritManToo]

4 hours ago, Dogmatix said:

We got a package at a very good price for c-section at BNH last year and they did a terrific job without charging any extra,

The 'extra' was the C-section ........ hardly anyone needs it.

Births in government hospital are free, and they do a really good job.

Our local hospital included free pre-natal, free post-natal and even a couple of home visits after.

[bbko]

Is the wife Thai or farang?  I'm from the US and my wife is Thai when we had our son, she had a C-section and stayed a few days the bill wasn't over 10,000b,  and the hospital knew I was a foreigner.

159k, seems waayyyy over the top.

[Sheryl]

People seem not to have read the OP very carefully.

 

The extra charges are not for the delivery.

 

They are for COVID care as the woman tested positive for COVID.

 

Nothing to do with delivery package costs.

 

Delivery packages do not include costs related to being COVID positive.

 

 

[bbko]

14 hours ago, Sheryl said:

People seem not to have read the OP very carefully.

Please change the OP headline to include "my wife was covid positive".  The OP posting of "Hospital charging 159k for birth package, website says 99k" is misleading.