Analysis Thailand in Trouble: Expats Exit as Vietnam Steals the Show

[Paradise Pete]

On 6/19/2025 at 4:39 AM, sambum said:

 

I had a cataract removed and a replacement lens fitted privately and it cost 75,000 baht (special lens to improve far and mid distance vision). A friend of my Thai wife had a similar procedure done (standard lens) and it  cost her 6,000 baht, so don't tell me there is no double pricing!

A large part of that 75,000 baht went to the cost of the lens. 

(prices in US dollars)

Monofocal (standard)	$50 – $200
Toric (astigmatism-correcting)	$400 – $1,000
Multifocal or EDOF (extended depth of focus)	$1,000 – $2,500+
Light-adjustable lenses	$2,500 – $4,000+

[newnative]

On 6/19/2025 at 4:39 PM, sambum said:

 

I had a cataract removed and a replacement lens fitted privately and it cost 75,000 baht (special lens to improve far and mid distance vision). A friend of my Thai wife had a similar procedure done (standard lens) and it  cost her 6,000 baht, so don't tell me there is no double pricing!

   I wonder if your Thai wife's friend had her eye procedure done at a public hospital--which, of course, would be cheaper than a private hospital such as what you used, and result in two different prices.  Also, to start with, her standard lens likely cost far less than your special type of lens.  My Thai spouse and I both had lasik done at a private hospital and we were both charged the same price.   

   About 12 years after our lasik, we both had lens replcement, Supersight, done.  Same private hospital.  Mine cost slightly more but that was only because I required a different, more expensive lens, not because I was a farang and my partner Thai.  The service was quick and easy, both of us done in one day, with both eyes done for each of us.  

   Contrast that to my partner's Thai sister.  She also wanted lens replacement but, to save money, she used her public hospital.  When we saw her, she had had one eye done but was waiting to have the second one done because the public hospital had run out of the type of  replacement lens she needed.   Months later, she was still waiting.  I think she has now had the second eye finally done.  

   So, in this example, two different prices, for two levels of medical care, reflecting the use of a private hospital over a less expensive public one.  Frankly, I don't have a problem with Thai citizens paying less at both public and private hospitals--or parks, museums, national monuments, etc., etc.