Cost of a doctor visit without insurance?

[Issangeorge]

When the ฿30 scheme first came out, there were some yellow book owners given the golf card. It was a mistake and they stoped issuing it, I don't know if they revoked them or not.

[Issangeorge]

Just a reference on prices. At my local district hospital, I saw the doctor, had a cyst removed, that involved going to the operating room. The total charge including a course of antibiotics and some paracetamol was ฿350.

[thaiduncankk]

When the ฿30 scheme first came out, there were some yellow book owners given the golf card. It was a mistake and they stoped issuing it, I don't know if they revoked them or not.

You did not need a yellow book, just a basic medical, but it also covered preexisting conditions, something most insurance policies will not.

The cards were not revoked, but after the 12 month validity they were not renewed.

Talk was that the military decided to stop it, but once an elected government is in place, it might be reintroduced.

[Sheryl]

Nothing to do with military vs. Elected govt. The system was fsigned and intended for migrant workers from neighboring countries but due to unclear wording in the directive got issued to all foreigners for a while. When the central ministry realized what was happening they issued a clarification to stop it.

There has never yet been a system intended for resident expats. There probably will be one eventually but no telling when...and it will not cost as little as the migrant scheme since expats are on the whole older.

[AyG]

There has never yet been a system intended for resident expats. There probably will be one eventually but no telling when...and it will not cost as little as the migrant scheme since expats are on the whole older.

There was a scheme proposed a couple of years or so ago to make medical insurance compulsory for all foreign visitors. Nothing came of it. I suspect that this is the route that any future government will go down, rather than providing a government-sponsored scheme. Of course, it doesn't address the issue that it's impossible for older expats to get medical insurance.

[thaiduncankk]

I am only quoting what I was told at a large Government Hospital, by Thai staff who were advised by their superiors.

[Sheryl]

There has never yet been a system intended for resident expats. There probably will be one eventually but no telling when...and it will not cost as little as the migrant scheme since expats are on the whole older.

There was a scheme proposed a couple of years or so ago to make medical insurance compulsory for all foreign visitors. Nothing came of it. I suspect that this is the route that any future government will go down, rather than providing a government-sponsored scheme. Of course, it doesn't address the issue that it's impossible for older expats to get medical insurance.

If they were to make insurance compulsory for, say, extensions of stay, but did not provide a means of obtaining it for those who by virtue of age or pre-existing conditions can't get it privately (or can't afford private rates) there will be chaos. Thousands of resident expats would be affected.

Hopefully any mandatory insurance provision would be accompanied by a scheme people could pay into.

[Issangeorge]

It seems to me that if they offered all extension of stay people the option of joining the Social Security Program and making the companies payment themselves, it would provide an affordable insurance that would include pre existing conditions, and could not be cancelled, due to an illness. Unfortunately I was one month short of belonging to the plan to continue it on my own.

[thaiduncankk]

Just seen a friend of mine whilst on my morning walk.

He explained to me that he went to Khon Kaen General hospital to see an eye specialist.

The doctor explained that to improve his eyesight an operation was needed.

After asking for a quotation, he was quoted a figure. The doctor also advised him, however, that he also practices in Bangkok Hospital which would enable him to get it earlier than at the General Hospital. After hearing the quotation for Bangkok Hospital he declined, waited a few weeks more and got it done in the General.

His eye is fine now, and his bank balance is over 20,000 baht better off by choosing the cheaper option !

And yes, the same doctor performed the surgery.

[colinneil]

Just thought I would mention that if you need to stay overnight in any hospital then it can make a significant difference to the bill if your Thai wife stays there with you. There is usually a sleeping couch in the room and it's quite normal for this to happen.

I do not think it makes any difference cost wise whether anyone stays with you.

In Government hospitals, whoever stays must vacate a ward by 8.00pm until 6.00am the next morning, and it is enforced by security. Privates may be different, but why should it be cheaper ?

What rubbish !! whoever stays with you has to leave at 8pm.

My wife stayed with me every night for 7 months when i was in hospital.

Never once a problem with security.

[thaiduncankk]

Just thought I would mention that if you need to stay overnight in any hospital then it can make a significant difference to the bill if your Thai wife stays there with you. There is usually a sleeping couch in the room and it's quite normal for this to happen.

I do not think it makes any difference cost wise whether anyone stays with you.

In Government hospitals, whoever stays must vacate a ward by 8.00pm until 6.00am the next morning, and it is enforced by security. Privates may be different, but why should it be cheaper ?

What rubbish !! whoever stays with you has to leave at 8pm.

My wife stayed with me every night for 7 months when i was in hospital.

Never once a problem with security.

Mr Dow,

I do not know what ward you were in, I have stayed in 6,9 & 10 over the past couple of years.

At 8.00pm, every night, a security man dressed in military attire, entered the wards, and every visitor was told to leave the ward, without exception.

They all sleep in the corridor until approximately 5.00 - 5.30 am, when they return to attend to their family and friends.

[Sheryl]

The operative term is "ward". Wards do indeed have set visiting hours, though hospitals seem to vary in how strictly they enforce it...and may also bend the rules for some patients and not others depending on their condition.

In a semi-private room or private room - -which most government hospitals offer for an additional fee -- no problem to have an attendant 24 hrs, in fact it is expected.

[Issangeorge]

At my local district hospital my wife or family member would sleep beside the bed on the floor of the ward, it was the same for every patient, sometimes floor space would be quit scarce. When I stayed in a private room there was no extra charge for my wife to sleep there, and there was a day bed. Frankly I found the private rooms too boring, the ward is far more entertaining.

Edited January 11, 2016 by Issangeorge

[thaiduncankk]

At my local district hospital my wife or family member would sleep beside the bed on the floor of the ward, it was the same for every patient, sometimes floor space would be quit scarce. When I stayed in a private room there was no extra charge for my wife to sleep there, and there was a day bed. Frankly I found the private rooms too boring, the ward is far more entertaining.

Sleeping on ward was the case a couple of years back.

I can only speak of my local Government hospital, but after the military takeover, they posted security in military uniforms there. I say security in military uniforms because several doctors and nurses have told me they are not actually military.

The times I have stayed there, over the past couple of years, they are adament that you cannot stay on the ward outside of normal visiting hours.

I have been to Khon Kaen Teaching Hospital (Srinakarin) as an outpatient, and have seen the same military uniforms on duty there. Whether they are also strict on the sleeping arrangements, I do not know.