Are you prepared for emergency illness

[Lacessit]

5 hours ago, LosLobo said:

I had a PET PSMA scan which although I have top health cover in Oz I had to pay full price for!

Whether one has to pay depends on classification as an in-patient or out-patient. Private health funds will only cover in-patient costs. I have no explanation as to why that should be, it's a system quirk.

[still kicking]

10 hours ago, Ralf001 said:

Have no desire to live past 70 so if I make to there reasonably unscathed great.... Then I'll either balcony bounce or inject lead into my skull.

So do it now

[still kicking]

9 hours ago, georgegeorgia said:

I got mine FREE !

When I walked into the reception at the scan clinic on Sydney a few days ago she said $530 please ,then looked at the referral and said 

"Your doctor has put Bulk Billing on it ,are you on a pension or unemployed ?

I said No I'm working!

She said your doctor has wrote Bulk Billing to be charged to the government!

I said thankyou very very much. ..????

 

..I stopping using bulk billing GP doctors though,they rush you in & out because the pittance the government is paying them under Medicare so they are not as good as "paying " GP doctors .

 

Anything like a medical certificate I just go to a bulk billing doctor but if it's serious I go to a paying the bill doctor 

 

But.. I'm glad she wrote " bulk billing " on my scan x-ray referral ,saved $530,though I believe I would of got back around $240 from the government Medicare 

 

 

????

Yes I am a pensioner living in OZ, have no private insurance and don't pay a cent for public hospital, went to hospital a few years ago (first time in my life) had a cardioversion done never paid a cent. Never pay for doctor visits or anything concerning health 

[Adumbration]

On 4/3/2023 at 9:54 AM, georgegeorgia said:

This is why I like to plan.

LOL.  Yeah you are a great planner.  You ran out of money and had to go back to Australia and work in a dead end night security guard job.

 

Or as a paid poster are you allowed to change your backstory?

[still kicking]

17 minutes ago, Adumbration said:

LOL.  Yeah you are a great planner.  You ran out of money and had to go back to Australia and work in a dead end night security guard job.

 

Or as a paid poster are you allowed to change your backstory?

Before I get banned you are an Australian hater go and get knotted 

[Whitepointer]

Its incredible how people think nothing of paying to service their entertainment needs, that by the way come and go in a small amount of time, but when it comes to health insurance don't want to pay.  

 

The only thing that is important is your health it should be at the top of your priority list. If its not have a good think about it and reprioritise. All the money in the bank is worthless without good health. 

 

Don't start complaining about poor return on investment if you buy cheap cover, The reality is as you get older your premiums will increase, this is proportional to your risk profile. Yes older people do get sick and they need expensive care.

 

The other important factor is you get more choices when you have health insurance. Sure you will get the same emergency department care with or without insurance but when it comes to say joint replacement then you want the best doctors playing around in there not some hospital intern going through his apprenticeship (yes that's what happens with government funded care in Australia). And the government still only covers 75% of the cost. Don't need a joint replacement ?

 

'Demand for joint replacements in Australia has more than doubled in the past ten years, with 22.5 percent of older Australians and 3.4 percent of the general population now requiring the surgery. As longevity and rates of obesity increase, the health burden of joint replacements is set to rise enormously' (source: Informa)

 

And that;s just joint replacement

 

My Friends father is 95 and fully insured, he brags about how much value he has gained over the years from his health insurance and is a strong advocate for good insurance. BTW he is planning on living past 100 and when you see him you will believe he can.

 

Another fellow i know went through the trauma of heart surgery and recounts the story of him verses a close friend that had similar issues, his friend is now a mess due to alleged poor medical treatment in the public system. 

 

By now readers might think i work for a health insurer, i don't i am happily retired and hate paying my annual $4000 AUD premium but you what? Once its paid its don't i just forget about it and know that if anything happens i will be covered. OMG i would hate to be paying health insurance in the USA.

 

There is a very informative site on senior care to give you some ideas on looking after yourself: https://www.seniorliving.org/insurance/ this site gets paid when you click on its links but the information contained in the general read is good and can be applied to any country.

 

I wish you all good luck with your retirement and remaining life, do take care of yourself.

 

 

[Whitepointer]

On 4/3/2023 at 12:41 PM, BritManToo said:

Healthy life expectancy is 62

Disability free life expectancy is 63

 

Do you really want to live longer?

Of course i do, Male life expectancy in Australia is 80 years old. My mother lived to 85, and had a great time doing the things she enjoyed until the day she died. My Father was not so fortunate and dies at 65. Mother had lots of medical problems in her life but received good care and worked until 65. Dad didn't retire but his medical condition was bad because he was unhealthy: overweight and a chronic smoker, did not exercise, he really didn't take care of himself, and scoffed at the medical profession as quacks. I held his hand while he was dying and i saw the results of not looking after yourself. I miss them both dearly. I believe the ability to live longer has its foundation in what you do to take care of yourself, the first step is the will to want to live longer. 

 

So as Spock says "Live long and prosper"

[Lacessit]

1 hour ago, Whitepointer said:

Of course i do, Male life expectancy in Australia is 80 years old. My mother lived to 85, and had a great time doing the things she enjoyed until the day she died. My Father was not so fortunate and dies at 65. Mother had lots of medical problems in her life but received good care and worked until 65. Dad didn't retire but his medical condition was bad because he was unhealthy: overweight and a chronic smoker, did not exercise, he really didn't take care of himself, and scoffed at the medical profession as quacks. I held his hand while he was dying and i saw the results of not looking after yourself. I miss them both dearly. I believe the ability to live longer has its foundation in what you do to take care of yourself, the first step is the will to want to live longer. 

 

So as Spock says "Live long and prosper"

100% agree. If you want to live longer and have quality of life, you have to work at it. You may get hit by a bus instead, but that's life.

Malcolm Fraser once famously said life wasn't meant to be easy. While he got pilloried for the comment, he was spot on.

 

[nickcar]

I would be interested to know readers opinion of my experience. I am 78 years old in good health and a Thai citizen (as well as being a New Zealand and English citizen).

 

I do not have any health insurance, my social security hospital is Lertsin. I get all my treatment they’re free. I used to have a yearly CT scan to check the condition of my aortic aneurysm treatment. It is now changed to 2 yearly. I have a condition known as pulmonary fibrosis, but it has not deteriorated for the last 10 years. I am very friendly with the Lung Doctor in Lertsin. Who occasionally uses me to help train new Lung  doctors.  For some reason I have a very good immune system and have not had influenza for instance for at least 30 years.

 

I am confident that my medical requirements will be looked after in this hospital. Furthermore, any emergency treatment can be treated in any hospital in Thailand free under the Social Security system

 

I am interested in your opinions????????????

Edited April 6, 2023 by nickcar

[Fat is a type of crazy]

Given there's an Australian bent to this thread I am curious what people do. Some here say they have maintained Australian health insurance. I am wondering if that means you do not have insurance in Thailand, or a limited one for say accidents only,  and hope you can get home if required. Or do you have two policies. Or one that covers both countries. 

If I were to stop my Australian policy I might be up for the 2 per cent extra tax per year that kicks in at the age of 30 though I assume it would start from when I stopped. I think you can stop and recommence for a limited period and get no penalty. 

Ideally I could extend my Australian policy to be consistent with Australian tax rules and include Thailand. Bit that does not appear to be possible. Or I can limit trips to three months or so at a time and buy travel insurance. Difficult. 

Edited April 6, 2023 by Fat is a type of crazy

[The Fugitive]

13 hours ago, BritManToo said:

Or maybe they don't really care if it happens or not?

I'd prefer 2 years of sun, sea and sex to 20 years of living alone in a cold, damp UK bedsit.

Some guys know (or at least strongly suspect) from their family history what's in store for them. Once they've decided 'I'm not going to see many more birthdays' that more than likely would apply.  

[bkk6060]

I have 100,000 b in an account.  I am prepared for anything.

[Yellowtail]

7 hours ago, Lacessit said:

https://us-uk.bookimed.com/clinics/country=thailand/procedure=pet-ct/

Which in no way supports your claim that the cheapest PET scan at the numerous private hospitals in Thailand that you checked was US$15,000.00, but it's more like US$1,500.00 

 

From your link: 

Yet I linked to a US website that showed the average cost of a PET scan to be about US$1,200-4,000, yet you continue to claim that which is significantly less than the US$15,000.00 that you claim is/was the cheapest available at the at the numerous private hospitals in Thailand that you checked. 

 

So, YOUR link claims the US is (not surprisingly) the most expensive, yet you continue to insist that PET scans in Thailand cost 3.75 to 12.5 TIMES as much as PET scans in Thailand. 

 

You also indicated that I pay about $500 at Chula (government) every year, and around $1,000 at Sikarin (private) you claimed it was because they used cheap and or outdated equipment, yet again, from YOUR link:

 

 

 

[Whitepointer]

1 hour ago, nickcar said:

I would be interested to know readers opinion of my experience. I am 78 years old in good health and a Thai citizen (as well as being a New Zealand and English citizen).

 

I do not have any health insurance, my social security hospital is Lertsin. I get all my treatment they’re free. I used to have a yearly CT scan to check the condition of my aortic aneurysm treatment. It is now changed to 2 yearly. I have a condition known as pulmonary fibrosis, but it has not deteriorated for the last 10 years. I am very friendly with the Lung Doctor in Lertsin. Who occasionally uses me to help train new Lung  doctors.  For some reason I have a very good immune system and have not had influenza for instance for at least 30 years.

 

I am confident that my medical requirements will be looked after in this hospital. Furthermore, any emergency treatment can be treated in any hospital in Thailand free under the Social Security system

 

I am interested in your opinions????????????

A few points from me. I'm sorry that you have that condition. On the other hand delighted to hear of your positive health position from a man of 78, your an inspiration to all. Well done mate. 

 

Now on with another story that I'm reminded of after reading your post:

 

I knew a man who was a regular visitor to St Vincent's in Melbourne for many many years. He had one of the immune related diseases. He too was used by the specialist for training new doctors. He was known and admired by all at the hospital and i must say a very humble and likeable old fellow.

 

One day he was taken to the emergency room of another hospital by an ambulance in a lot of abdominal pain, and subsequently diagnosed with a bowel obstruction.

 

He was moved to the gastrointestinal ward where the doctors and nurses visited him, medicated him for pain and put him on a drip and no food diet. To his surprise these on-ward quacks started talking to him about a colostomy bag. He was medicated, frightened and begging them to talk to the specialist at St Vincent's because he believed his current condition was related to his immune disease and needed to be assessed and treated differently. The doctors didn't listen to him and just kept insisting that they would need to operate in days if it didn't right itself.  Saying things like 'You don't understand you are in a very serious situation and an operation will save your life, if we don't you will almost certainly die'

 

His wife contacted St Vincent's and asked to speak to the specialist he had been seeing for years, the doctor he felt very comfortable with. She got as far as reception person who discussed it with the doctor and rung her back saying 'The specialist understands what's going on and the local doctors are working with him now, there isn't anything he can do" and that was it.

 

The wife then tried to get him moved to St Vincent but could not make it happen.

 

She subsequently spoke to some friends and found a good alternative private hospital and moved him at their cost to that hospital. He literally walked out the door in the hospital gown got dressed in the car and  went to the new hospital. On arriving at the hospital they declared they wish to be admitted as fee paying and were asked if they had a preferred doctor they declared the specialist but he was not on their lists so they provided a suitable substitute.

 

The end of of this story is approx. $13,000 AUD in care for out of pocket expense and no operation. We will never know if the first hospital would operate or not, but when you speak to him, he was certain. 

 

One can draw the conclusion, ER's we do their best to help everyone but after that you better choose your medical treatment.  Public hospitals need to move people on, they assess on the bases of averages, and they derive their income from the government at a fixed rate and importantly hospital beds are in short supply. Come into one of these places of business as a public patient and you are at the mercy of a government influenced profit system, and you know the government isn't paying much. At least when you are paying your way you wont have some hospital administrator thinking your taking up a valuable revenue generating spot. 

 

Lastly, as for doctors  and friendships, forget it. It's a professional relationship and never anything more. They cant afford to get attached to patients and have an endless supply of new meat coming in the door. 

 

So either buy insurance or have access to funds and someone that will ensure you get the care you need.

 

Just my thoughts in response to your request for thoughts, Good luck for your next ten years mate.

 

Cheers

 

 

[BritManToo]

5 minutes ago, Whitepointer said:

So either buy insurance or have access to funds and someone that will ensure you get the care you need.

...... or learn to say NO firmly!

[Lacessit]

1 hour ago, Yellowtail said:

Which in no way supports your claim that the cheapest PET scan at the numerous private hospitals in Thailand that you checked was US$15,000.00, but it's more like US$1,500.00 

 

From your link: 

Yet I linked to a US website that showed the average cost of a PET scan to be about US$1,200-4,000, yet you continue to claim that which is significantly less than the US$15,000.00 that you claim is/was the cheapest available at the at the numerous private hospitals in Thailand that you checked. 

 

So, YOUR link claims the US is (not surprisingly) the most expensive, yet you continue to insist that PET scans in Thailand cost 3.75 to 12.5 TIMES as much as PET scans in Thailand. 

 

You also indicated that I pay about $500 at Chula (government) every year, and around $1,000 at Sikarin (private) you claimed it was because they used cheap and or outdated equipment, yet again, from YOUR link:

 

 

 

You really are like a dog with a bone, an obsession to prove me wrong.

I have better things to do with my time than go looking at all the hospital websites I visited previously, or post the links, which still would not satisfy you.

Did your PET scan include infusion with radioactive isotopes? Such pharmaceuticals are expensive, and I seriously doubt the technology exists to manufacture the compounds in Thailand.

As an example of how expensive they can be, I am currently on a course of oral medication which is free for me in Australia. If I was in America, it would be USD 7000 a month. Said medication is not available in any Thai hospital, including Bumrungrad.

I posted the figures in good faith, take it up with the hospitals and websites quoting them, not me.

Edited April 6, 2023 by Lacessit

[Yellowtail]

2 hours ago, Lacessit said:

You really are like a dog with a bone, an obsession to prove me wrong.

I have better things to do with my time than go looking at all the hospital websites I visited previously, or post the links, which still would not satisfy you.

Did your PET scan include infusion with radioactive isotopes? Such pharmaceuticals are expensive, and I seriously doubt the technology exists to manufacture the compounds in Thailand.

As an example of how expensive they can be, I am currently on a course of oral medication which is free for me in Australia. If I was in America, it would be USD 7000 a month. Said medication is not available in any Thai hospital, including Bumrungrad.

I posted the figures in good faith, take it up with the hospitals and websites quoting them, not me.

That's what I thought, thanks! 

[The Fugitive]

3 hours ago, Whitepointer said:

A few points from me. I'm sorry that you have that condition. On the other hand delighted to hear of your positive health position from a man of 78, your an inspiration to all. Well done mate. 

 

Now on with another story that I'm reminded of after reading your post:

 

I knew a man who was a regular visitor to St Vincent's in Melbourne for many many years. He had one of the immune related diseases. He too was used by the specialist for training new doctors. He was known and admired by all at the hospital and i must say a very humble and likeable old fellow.

 

One day he was taken to the emergency room of another hospital by an ambulance in a lot of abdominal pain, and subsequently diagnosed with a bowel obstruction.

 

He was moved to the gastrointestinal ward where the doctors and nurses visited him, medicated him for pain and put him on a drip and no food diet. To his surprise these on-ward quacks started talking to him about a colostomy bag. He was medicated, frightened and begging them to talk to the specialist at St Vincent's because he believed his current condition was related to his immune disease and needed to be assessed and treated differently. The doctors didn't listen to him and just kept insisting that they would need to operate in days if it didn't right itself.  Saying things like 'You don't understand you are in a very serious situation and an operation will save your life, if we don't you will almost certainly die'

 

His wife contacted St Vincent's and asked to speak to the specialist he had been seeing for years, the doctor he felt very comfortable with. She got as far as reception person who discussed it with the doctor and rung her back saying 'The specialist understands what's going on and the local doctors are working with him now, there isn't anything he can do" and that was it.

 

The wife then tried to get him moved to St Vincent but could not make it happen.

 

She subsequently spoke to some friends and found a good alternative private hospital and moved him at their cost to that hospital. He literally walked out the door in the hospital gown got dressed in the car and  went to the new hospital. On arriving at the hospital they declared they wish to be admitted as fee paying and were asked if they had a preferred doctor they declared the specialist but he was not on their lists so they provided a suitable substitute.

 

The end of of this story is approx. $13,000 AUD in care for out of pocket expense and no operation. We will never know if the first hospital would operate or not, but when you speak to him, he was certain. 

 

One can draw the conclusion, ER's we do their best to help everyone but after that you better choose your medical treatment.  Public hospitals need to move people on, they assess on the bases of averages, and they derive their income from the government at a fixed rate and importantly hospital beds are in short supply. Come into one of these places of business as a public patient and you are at the mercy of a government influenced profit system, and you know the government isn't paying much. At least when you are paying your way you wont have some hospital administrator thinking your taking up a valuable revenue generating spot. 

 

Lastly, as for doctors  and friendships, forget it. It's a professional relationship and never anything more. They cant afford to get attached to patients and have an endless supply of new meat coming in the door. 

 

So either buy insurance or have access to funds and someone that will ensure you get the care you need.

 

Just my thoughts in response to your request for thoughts, Good luck for your next ten years mate.

 

Cheers

A cautionary tale indeed! Would be useful to know exactly what the private hospital did for the gentleman? Would his condition have resolved naturally by itself? Or, was his $13,000 AUD actually well spent in that he avoided surgery due to the superior knowledge of his doctor who used special equipment, techniques and exotic medications? 

[Yellowtail]

17 minutes ago, The Fugitive said:

A cautionary tale indeed! Would be useful to know exactly what the private hospital did for the gentleman? Would his condition have resolved naturally by itself? Or, was his $13,000 AUD actually well spent in that he avoided surgery due to the superior knowledge of his doctor who used special equipment, techniques and exotic medications? 

Maybe he got a PET scan, I heard those are over AUD 22,000.00 in Bangkok, hard to imagine how much they might be in Melbourne...

[Ralf001]

11 hours ago, still kicking said:

So do it now

70 is a fair way off... will wait.

[Lacessit]

3 hours ago, Whitepointer said:

 

 

 

One can draw the conclusion, ER's we do their best to help everyone but after that you better choose your medical treatment.  Public hospitals need to move people on, they assess on the bases of averages, and they derive their income from the government at a fixed rate and importantly hospital beds are in short supply. Come into one of these places of business as a public patient and you are at the mercy of a government influenced profit system, and you know the government isn't paying much. At least when you are paying your way you wont have some hospital administrator thinking your taking up a valuable revenue generating spot. 

 

Lastly, as for doctors  and friendships, forget it. It's a professional relationship and never anything more. They cant afford to get attached to patients and have an endless supply of new meat coming in the door. 

 

 

 

 

What you say is very true, with a couple of extra factors mixed in.

Emergency departments in Australia are all under siege because so many doctors in clinics are abandoning bulk billing in favor of private clinics. Patients who cannot afford a private clinic clog up the ED's with the merest sniffle, headache, or stomach pain.

COVID was the icing on the cake in terms of patient numbers, the public health system is still recovering from that pandemic, with more variants surfacing.

The final nail is inexperienced registrars staffing the ED's, who are expected to make critical decisions and think on their feet after having worked up to 20 hours without sleep. It's a Darwinian selection process the medical profession regards as a rite of passage. They can't expect any help from the hospital administrators, who will throw them to the wolves if they make a bad decision under pressure.

 

I am under no illusions as to the patient - doctor professional relationship, although some are better at the bedside manner than others.

[Lacessit]

21 minutes ago, Yellowtail said:

Maybe he got a PET scan, I heard those are over AUD 22,000.00 in Bangkok, hard to imagine how much they might be in Melbourne...

According to the billing I saw for mine in Melbourne ( paid for by my health fund ), AUD 1100. Can't resist being smart##se, can you?

[LosLobo]

My CT PET Gallium-68 PSMA  scan in Adelaide was only AUD300 as an outpatient.

 

This was a half price special from a new clinic trying to attract customers.

 

[Ralf001]

I had a PET scan in February, cost was Bt.65,000 at Phayathai hospital.

[Yellowtail]

7 hours ago, Lacessit said:

According to the billing I saw for mine in Melbourne ( paid for by my health fund ), AUD 1100. Can't resist being smart##se, can you?

As opposed to a dumb##se? Sure!

[Yellowtail]

6 hours ago, Ralf001 said:

I had a PET scan in February, cost was Bt.65,000 at Phayathai hospital.

No way, they cost Bt.510,000.00 at the cheapest private hospitals in Bangkok. You must have gotten old, warn out equipment and phony reagent.

[KiChakayan]

On 4/3/2023 at 9:54 AM, georgegeorgia said:

 ....but let's look at the say 65yo single male retired to Pattaya living alone in a condo .

In such case an Exit bag would be the best solution IMHO.

Edited April 6, 2023 by KiChakayan

[Lacessit]

6 hours ago, Yellowtail said:

As opposed to a dumb##se? Sure!

Take a look at the number of posts I have made, then the number of positives given by other posters. Then compare it with your ratio. IMO that says it all about our relative value to this forum.

[thaibeachlovers]

On 4/5/2023 at 6:27 PM, HauptmannUK said:

We were heading back to UK so saw our GP there...   Long story, short...  within six weeks she'd had a couple of scans and a minor op.  All sorted on the NHS.  They even provided a Thai lady interpreter to stay with her during the op!

While I'm happy that your wife was able to be sorted I'm puzzled as to how she qualified, unless you are both residents IN the UK and only visiting Thailand.

I understand that only UK residents are able to get NHS treatment.

[thaibeachlovers]

On 4/6/2023 at 6:31 AM, still kicking said:

So do it now

Perhaps he's not at that point yet. Just turning 70 doesn't necessarily make our lives worse.