Emergency care in Bangkok

[elgenon]

If I have to go to a hospital emergency room in BKK, which hospital should I choose if I had the time to choose?

Which hospital for post-emergency care?

Since I am not certain my home country insurance would cover it (I am not sure I can believe them), and for the greatest benefit to TV participants, could we please have answers for someone insured and for someone not insured?

Thanks!

[lopburi3]

How good an emergency room doctor is can very by the hour. Insurance requirements vary by hospitals and the insurance providers so no stock answer.

Perhaps better to have pre-emergency care from a doctor of your choice and work from there.

In an emergency you may not have a choice - for many such things speed is often the prime concern - especially in the traffic of Bangkok. But as you said "if you have the time" will let others with more knowledge of staffing provide feedback. Our one time use of ER at one of most expensive facilities was not something we would want again - but issues were with actual hospital staff rather than ER doctor.

Unfortunately do not believe there is a solid answer.

Obviously the large government hospitals would be first choice for cost - with the not for profit private hospitals likely second choice (but do not know there staffing).

[Soutpeel]

Easy answer ....the closest it an emergency then figure the rest out from there...and dont you think it would be a good idea to find out if your covered insurance wise, and if your not get some insurance ,

[derator01]

Topic moved to Health forum.

[Sheryl]

Of course the location in which this happens, urgency of the situation and travel time all have to be factored in, as in many cases it is not wise to spend longer than necessary to reach a facility. However even given that I would not say the nearest hospital. Specifically, very small private hospitals are to be avoided like the plague. I could write pages of horror stories about them..and be forewarned that many of them pay private "emergency" services to brin gthem patients, in fact that is pretty much the sole source of clientele for some of them.

What is important in emergency care is an ER that reliably has 24 hour onsite physicians and nurses with solid ER experience and one that sees a large volume of cases (so that staff skills are not rusty) and also is attached to a hospital able to provide the full range of trauma care, coronary care and treatment of stroke.

Places in Bangkok that IMO meet these criteria are:

Private: Bangkok Hospital

Government: Chulalongkhorn and Siriraj (about equal so which depends on which is closer). Ramatibhodi and Police Hospital are also viable options.

[elgenon]

Thanks Sheryl. A well written and thoughtful response as usual.

[petermik]

Thanks Sheryl. A well written and thoughtful response as usual.

"smitten" are we

[NewInPatts]

Bumrungrad, BNH, Samitivej - wouldn't set my foot into another one if I had the choice.

In case of emergency, what ever is closest of course. You don't wanna die on the way to BNH because you don't want to go to the police hospital.

Anyway in case of a real emergency I highly doubt the hospital matters to you. It'll be up to the people that bring you in where you end up.

Everything else is not a real emergency.

[elgenon]

Easy answer ....the closest it an emergency then figure the rest out from there...and dont you think it would be a good idea to find out if your covered insurance wise, and if your not get some insurance ,

Easy answer. The company says I am but, until I have a claim and they are willing to pay it, I am not fully believing. I don't trust insurance companies to do the right thing. What do you think?

[elgenon]

Bumrungrad, BNH, Samitivej - wouldn't set my foot into another one if I had the choice.

In case of emergency, what ever is closest of course. You don't wanna die on the way to BNH because you don't want to go to the police hospital.

Anyway in case of a real emergency I highly doubt the hospital matters to you. It'll be up to the people that bring you in where you end up.

Everything else is not a real emergency.

If you can spell the names I would appreciate it since i am not familiar enough with the hospitals (thank goodness) to know what the initials stand for.

Thanks

[lopburi3]

Actually those are the names of top tier Bangkok hospitals. Samitivej has several locations and BNH Hospital used to be called Bangkok Nursing Home.

[NewInPatts]

Easy answer ....the closest it an emergency then figure the rest out from there...and dont you think it would be a good idea to find out if your covered insurance wise, and if your not get some insurance ,

Easy answer. The company says I am but, until I have a claim and they are willing to pay it, I am not fully believing. I don't trust insurance companies to do the right thing. What do you think?

Look into BUPA. It's one of the best and easiest solution. I think its 60 or 70,000 baht a year. Had surgery at Bumrungrad and ended up with a 600,000 baht bill. They covered 95% of it.

[Soutpeel]

Easy answer ....the closest it an emergency then figure the rest out from there...and dont you think it would be a good idea to find out if your covered insurance wise, and if your not get some insurance ,

Easy answer. The company says I am but, until I have a claim and they are willing to pay it, I am not fully believing. I don't trust insurance companies to do the right thing. What do you think?

If they say you are, then your are, your policy will give any exclusions typically geographically its normally the US which is excluded on a lot of policies...my company medical insurance is out of the UK and i am covered world wide excluding the US and in all the years in Thailand have never had a problem with them paying any claims

[elgenon]

Easy answer ....the closest it an emergency then figure the rest out from there...and dont you think it would be a good idea to find out if your covered insurance wise, and if your not get some insurance ,

Easy answer. The company says I am but, until I have a claim and they are willing to pay it, I am not fully believing. I don't trust insurance companies to do the right thing. What do you think?

Look into BUPA. It's one of the best and easiest solution. I think its 60 or 70,000 baht a year. Had surgery at Bumrungrad and ended up with a 600,000 baht bill. They covered 95% of it.

They said I am too old. : (

What do they know?

[Sheryl]

Yes, BUPA will not enrol past a certain age.

Plenty of international expat policies will, though.

I would not worry that a policy provided by your company "won't really pay" but from what I have seen of private insurance policies provided by companies here -- even multinational ones -- I would worry a lot about how much they will pay. Many of them have ridiculously low caps.

If you are employed in Thailand at other than a private school, by law you should be enrolled in the government Social Security system. While care will be limited to one hospital that you are registered at (of which you have some choice) there is no cap at all to the coverage provided.

[elgenon]

Yes, BUPA will not enrol past a certain age.

Plenty of international expat policies will, though.

I would not worry that a policy provided by your company "won't really pay" but from what I have seen of private insurance policies provided by companies here -- even multinational ones -- I would worry a lot about how much they will pay. Many of them have ridiculously low caps.

If you are employed in Thailand at other than a private school, by law you should be enrolled in the government Social Security system. While care will be limited to one hospital that you are registered at (of which you have some choice) there is no cap at all to the coverage provided.

Sheryl, I have Medicare Advantage specifically because they say they cover foreign emergencies. I would rather have regular Medicare so I have choice of doctors in US. Until I make an actual claim I am hopeful of emergency coverage but insurance companies sometimes use technicalities to get out of paying. I would say I have a healthy skepticism. I am a healthy guy.

If you have Thai policies you feel comfortable recommending I would like to hear them so I can check them out. Thanks.