Recently, I went to Samitivej in Sukhumvit 49 with an eye problem.

Immediately following the examination, the specialist asked "Do you have insurance?" and then suggested it was a good idea for me to stay in the hospital for a night or two for "observation" because he suspected I had a mild case of a condition called Ankylosing Spondylitis which could cause my eye problem. I declined because it didn't seem necessary but it got me thinking.

Do private hospitals in Thailand routinely engage in this kind of thing to wring cash out of insurers?

Do they encourage doctors to try to do deals with insured patients by getting them to admit themselves to hospital so they can ramp up the bill?

Private hospitals in Thailand are specialists at wringing out money from insurance or patients by suggesting unnecessary and costly procedures.

Sometimes a government hospital will provide a better treatment and a better approach to the patient.

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??? Spine problem???

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ankylosing_spondylitis

Mac

Yes it can cause uveitis/iritis

I use Samitivej quite a bit and have not encountered this.

Most insurance companies are pretty sharp and would spot an outright unnecessary hospitalization. In fact many require prior approval before they will cover a hospitalization.