Thailand explores extending emergency coverage to foreign tourists

[webfact]

 

The possibility of extending the Universal Coverage for Emergency Patients (UCEP) programme to safeguard foreign tourists is being explored by the Tourism and Sports Ministry and the National Institute for Emergency Medicine. This move comes in the wake of a rising number of injuries among tourists, primarily due to road and water accidents.

 

The proposal to include foreign tourists under the purview of emergency medical services across Thailand was initiated by Tourism and Sports Minister Sudawan Wangsuphakijkosol. A blueprint is currently awaited from the Public Health Ministry, as part of the government’s strategy to enhance safety measures, thereby promoting Thailand as a major tourism hub in the coming year.

 

A case that triggered widespread media attention was the denial of admission by a private hospital to a Taiwanese tourist who had sustained severe injuries in a car crash in December. Up until the end of March this year, the country has witnessed 128 tourist injuries and 64 fatalities.

The permanent secretary’s office of tourism revealed that road accidents accounted for 82 injuries. The majority of deaths, totalling 18, were due to water accidents, primarily recreational, followed by 15 fatalities on the road, 12 health-related deaths, and two suicides. The year 2023 saw 400 tourists injured and 185 deaths.

According to Sudawan, incorporating foreign tourists into the UCEP scheme would bolster their safety. This would supplement the existing aid programme that covers injuries or deaths of foreign tourists, offering compensation of up to 1 million baht (US$ 27,300) in case of death and 500,000 baht (US$ 14,000) for injuries.

 

The scheme has been operational from January 1 to August 31, with the government having set aside 50 million baht (US$ 1.4 million) for it. The actual amount of compensation to be proposed for extending the scheme from September will be decided after evaluating the trial period. By March, the scheme had disbursed around 2 million baht (US$ 55,000) in compensation to eligible tourists.

 

Tourist safety

 

An anonymous executive from the Tourism and Sports Ministry highlighted that some of these injury issues are interlinked with other ministries. For instance, the Commerce Ministry should regulate car and motorcycle rental shops registered under it.

 

There have been cases of non-compliance with the law by some operators, such as not demanding a driving license before renting a vehicle or not providing insurance to tourists. Additionally, some tourists overlook safety rules, especially not wearing helmets while riding motorcycles, reported Bangkok Post.

 

Concerns regarding tourist safety have been raised by several governments, including Saudi Arabia, which expressed concern over the high incidence of motorcycle accidents among Saudi tourists, particularly those aged between 20 and 35, in Phuket and Pattaya.

 

by Alex Morgan

Picture courtesy of Bangkok Post

 

Source: The Thaiger 2024-04-04

 

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[Cabradelmar]

Wow. A give back to the millions of tourist that keep this economy afloat. But at what cost to whom? Because there is no such thing as a free lunch. 

[Emdog]

Uh, obvious but will say it anyway: enforce the laws.... if they were enforced on highways, fewer accidents. If they were enforced for water sports, fewer accidents.

A stitch in time saves nine months in a hospital... or a morgue

[ChaiyaTH]

Thailand explores more ways to get money out of people their pockets, as they realize, they can't keep the lies up as numbers never lie, and they are short of cash = in 1 sentence what this articles writes about, without the lies.

 

For example, they never mention that they charge huge amounts to all foreigners in hospitals with insurance, which effectively usually means that that foreigner his/her insurance paid 2-3X the normal prices, shouldn't that be plenty already to compensate the rare hospital bill runners? .....

 

Why are the few rare foreigners not paying, a huge threat to the healthcare system, if they can care endless Thais on a 30 baht scheme? ....

[n00dle]

2 minutes ago, ChaiyaTH said:

Thailand explores more ways to get money out of people their pockets, as they realize, they can't keep the lies up as numbers never lie, and they are short of cash.

 

 I don't think you could get much further off base, but explain to me how providing tourists with emergency medical care is a cash grab.

[ChaiyaTH]

Just now, n00dle said:

 

 I don't think you could get much further off base, but explain to me how providing tourists with emergency medical care is a cash grab.

By International law, this is a standard, but I guess you don't know that either. Secondly, 99% of tourists have insurance or pay for their medical care here.

[Pouatchee]

12 minutes ago, ChaiyaTH said:

Why are the few rare foreigners not paying, a huge threat to the healthcare system, if they can care endless Thais on a 30 baht scheme? ....

 

in no way am i a thai bleeding heart... but gotta be fair here. how are tourists, thai or any other denomination, treated by hospitals in the west when they have an accident?

 

i would guess that it is pretty much the same as we are treated here, but we just never hear about it.

[Yagoda]

What kind of idiot travels or even lives in Thaialnd without insurance.

[n00dle]

1 minute ago, ChaiyaTH said:

By International law, this is a standard, but I guess you don't know that either. Secondly, 99% of tourists have insurance or pay for their medical care here.

 

Im sorry are you simple, perhaps high?? what does this have to do with you original post or any of the gibberish you added later have to do with the introduction of universal emergency care for tourists? 

 

 

[KannikaP]

18 minutes ago, Yagoda said:

What kind of idiot travels or even lives in Thaialnd without insurance.

Sadly some of us older idiots who have got their home & families here are priced out of Health Insurance.

Luckily I have a very good University Hospital close by, who have provided me with adequate and reasonably priced treatment.

[impulse]

1 hour ago, Cabradelmar said:

Wow. A give back to the millions of tourist that keep this economy afloat. But at what cost to whom? Because there is no such thing as a free lunch. 

 

Seems like it would be simple enough to add $5 to the tax on international flights and nobody would even know the difference on a $200-$3000  ticket.  At 40 million arrivals and 40 million departures, that would be $400 million.  I suspect that would cover it nicely.

 

[BritManToo]

1 hour ago, Yagoda said:

What kind of idiot travels or even lives in Thaialnd without insurance.

Me!

[Yagoda]

39 minutes ago, BritManToo said:

Me!

But you are a veritable God

[Andrew65]

1 hour ago, BritManToo said:

Me!

For most of the 20 years that I lived in Thailand I never had health insurance. Moved there when I was 33, left when I was 53. Never really had health issues that required it, luckily.

[Cabradelmar]

1 hour ago, impulse said:

 

Seems like it would be simple enough to add $5 to the tax on international flights and nobody would even know the difference on a $200-$3000  ticket.  At 40 million arrivals and 40 million departures, that would be $400 million.  I suspect that would cover it nicely.

 

With plenty left over to line enough pockets to please any Thai. 

[impulse]

16 minutes ago, Cabradelmar said:

With plenty left over to line enough pockets to please any Thai. 

 

An excellent observation, but I figured that was a given.

 

Still, I wonder how much it would cost to provide every tourist with basic emergency cover, and how much they'd have to jack up the tax on flights?

 

And would that added tax be offset with reduced travel insurance prices for the more responsible folk who buy it?  That could make it a win-win for tourism.

 

And finally, would tourists do even more stupid stunts knowing they're covered if it goes sideways? (Though I'd hope they exempt Darwin Award attempts from the list of stuff that's covered...)

 

[hotchilli]

3 hours ago, Yagoda said:

What kind of idiot travels or even lives in Thaialnd without insurance.

Skint Idiots, and there are many of them.

Traveling on a budget.

[Srikcir]

4 hours ago, ChaiyaTH said:

By International law, this is a standard, but I guess you don't know that either.

Please cite that law and whether Thailand is bound by it. International "laws" require a nation's ratification to accept responsibility and compliance with such "laws", ie., the Geneva Convention, UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, 1951 Refugee Convention. 

[Srikcir]

4 hours ago, Cabradelmar said:

But at what cost to whom?

Thailand has been there and done it before.

COVID insurance for foreigners in Thailand 90-day coverage to cost 2,500 to 14,000 baht. About $70-$380 at today's exchange rate.

https://www.thaiembassy.com

[Bobthegimp]

4 hours ago, Cabradelmar said:

Wow. A give back to the millions of tourist that keep this economy afloat. But at what cost to whom? Because there is no such thing as a free lunch. 

 

Make the filthy retirees pay for it with a new income tax policy.

[Srikcir]

1 hour ago, hotchilli said:

Skint Idiots, and there are many of them.

Traveling on a budget.

And those who don't read their policy coverage, restrictions and disallowances. Having to purchase Thai government health insurance for entry should pre-empt questions of applicability as the Thai government becomes the guarantee, however, may have exceptions such as injury in connection with commission of a crime.  

[Cabradelmar]

58 minutes ago, impulse said:

 

An excellent observation, but I figured that was a given.

 

Still, I wonder how much it would cost to provide every tourist with basic emergency cover, and how much they'd have to jack up the tax on flights?

 

And would that added tax be offset with reduced travel insurance prices for the more responsible folk who buy it?  That could make it a win-win for tourism.

 

And finally, would tourists do even more stupid stunts knowing they're covered if it goes sideways? (Though I'd hope they exempt Darwin Award attempts from the list of stuff that's covered...)

 

I'd rather the scheme pay for basis emergency medical treatment for the uninsured, if needed (there were only 400 cases of tourist injury, of all kinds, last year, but no mention of how many of those where uninsured - my guess most where insured) vs compensating tourist for their death (of which there where 185 tourist deaths last year). And the only reason I say that is so that hospitals will be less likely to turn people away - like they did to the man from Taiwan who later died as a result. If this gets the greedy Thai medical establishment to at least know they will get paid for rendering services, then people will be less likely to needlessly die due to hospital greed. Unfortunately, my guess is if tourist know they're covered for emergency medical they will do more stupid stuff. But then you can't fix all stupid. 

[Cabradelmar]

29 minutes ago, Srikcir said:

Thailand has been there and done it before.

COVID insurance for foreigners in Thailand 90-day coverage to cost 2,500 to 14,000 baht. About $70-$380 at today's exchange rate.

https://www.thaiembassy.com

Different. That was insurance tourist had to get to get their COE to be allowed to enter. This new scheme covers anyone injured (without insurance) or killed, though a nominal tourist tax on all tourists (regardless of who you are or if you already pay for your own insurance already).

[Cabradelmar]

31 minutes ago, Bobthegimp said:

 

Make the filthy retirees pay for it with a new income tax policy.

Someone is gonna pay, cuz it ain't free. 

[KannikaP]

2 hours ago, hotchilli said:

Skint Idiots, and there are many of them.

Traveling on a budget.

I am not skint, nor an idiot, nor travelling on a budget. But premiums for older people, and there are many of us, are simply outrageous.

[hotchilli]

2 hours ago, KannikaP said:

I am not skint, nor an idiot, nor travelling on a budget. But premiums for older people, and there are many of us, are simply outrageous.

Point taken 

[NORDO]

 

Concerns regarding tourist safety have been raised by several governments, including Saudi Arabia, which expressed concern over the high incidence of motorcycle accidents among Saudi tourists, particularly those aged between 20 and 35, in Phuket and Pattaya.

 

 

If these “several governments” are concerned over the high incidence of motorbike incidents among their citizens in Thailand, they might consider the high incidence of stupidity among their citizens when strapping on a machine with excessive horsepower, or camel-power for that matter.

[khunjeff]

4 hours ago, Cabradelmar said:

This new scheme covers anyone injured (without insurance) or killed, though a nominal tourist tax on all tourists

 

The much-discussed tourist tax is not mentioned anywhere in the article - this appears to be a separate scheme.

 

9 hours ago, ChaiyaTH said:

Why are the few rare foreigners not paying, a huge threat to the healthcare system

 

They're not. Even if you believed all the stories about non-paying tourists (mostly generated by one particular director of one particular hospital on one particular island), the unpaid cost would have averaged out to less than 10 baht per foreign arrival. The "solution" dreamed up to this problem was the 300 baht tourist tax mentioned above - I think we can all do the math on that.

 

8 hours ago, impulse said:

Seems like it would be simple enough to add $5 to the tax on international flights and nobody would even know the difference

 

Yes, they could easily have done that. But they wanted only foreigners to pay, and the airlines told them there was no way to collect a charge that only applied to certain passengers. So, the whole plan has been (temporarily?) shelved.

[john donson]

thailand as recent in the news, if you don't show your credit card, they move you and you might die... but not their problem and no serious fines either...

 

20 million, 30, 40 million tourists.... ask them euh... 100 baht on entrance and insured?

 

off course nothing for expats living here that soon will pay taxes in return for NOTHING at all, free pm 2.5

[Cabradelmar]

15 hours ago, khunjeff said:

The much-discussed tourist tax is not mentioned anywhere in the article - this appears to be a separate scheme.

No such thing as a free lunch... Someone is paying and it will (if not now, eventually) be tourist (one way or another).