I write to ask if there are any farang married to a Dr who works in a thai government hospital who is thus entitled to the free health care.

Marriage is on the cards to my lovely lady (in the next 3 - 4 months or so) and my western travel insurance runs out next month. I thought I would renew the travel insurance policy for only 3 months, and on expiry, be totally reliant on the govt hospital insurance. However, I don't know much about what it includes etc- or if its any good.

If your entitled to the free health treatment due to your marriage, have you taken out any other private health insurance as a back up? Is there any information you can share about the free insurance?

Based on my experience of using the govt hospital a few times, it scares me a little to be completely reliant on the system.

Many thanks for your opinion on this matter

I believe you have to have a job and be paying Thai Social Security

You will have to make a choice.

Most, I suspect , would argue that a private insurance with a minimum of 1,000,000 bht be taken out and some would say a minimum of 5,000,000Bht should be taken out.

Be aware relying on your wife's insurance also restricts your choice of hospital/Doctor.

entitled to the free health treatment due to your marriage

Not in my experience, however you will find her friends at their private clinics will treat you free or cost only to cover injections, xrays etc.

If the doctor is a Civil Servant (not all government employees are), the family is entitled to the same insurance as they are. That includes spouse, children and parents of the employee.

This is not the same as the 30 Baht or Social Security systems.

I believe they get health services where they want, but would in some cases have to pay up front and get a refund from the insurance system.

Know someone who married an Army officer, and they are covered.

Many work for the government but are not covered by this plan. Being a 'Civil Servant' is the key...

Terry is 99% right, although there is not complete free choice. Under the civil servant medical benefits scheme the hospital where treatment is given will normally be a public hospital, except when the scheme has contracted with a private hospital to provide certain specialised services or emergency care is involved. The plus with this scheme is that spending per head is quite a bit higher than for the other two public insurance schemes (i.e. the UCS and SSS).

As above. Whether the spouse is a doctor is irrelevant, issue is whether they are a civil servant. If so, you are covered under the SS scheme for civil servants, which is separate from the SS scheme for other employed people.

I believe you will have a choice of hospitals to enroll in, though most on the list will be government hospitals (and the private ones that accept SS are often small and not very good) , and once you have registered you are limited to that hospital unless they refer you elsewhere. You can get semi-private room under the plan AFAIK so in that respect better than the "30 baht" scheme.