One of my Thai friends brother had a motorbike accident where I hear the bill is at $50000. I thought Thais get free healthcare?? 

 

 

 

Well, yes, they do have the free or next to free health care, depending on what plan of the two or three they have.

 

In general, tho, if they don't have a plan through employment, the medical treatment starts at the hospital were they are registered.  Commonly, this will be at a local district hospital.  If this facility can't handle it, they're supposed to refer the case to a higher level hospital, such as the provincial hospital.

 

Could be that your friend ended up being treated at a private facility.  Emergency treatment is supposed to be free even here, but then the hospital would be expected to transfer the patient to a government hospital.  If all the care was private, then could expect a bill.

 

Mac

ok so government hospital is free?

Government hospital can be free but depends on which one.  For most people, they'll have to start with their local district hospital.

 

How about your example, where did s/he start off with?

 

Mac

A 50K bill in dollars?  Cheap health care would be limited to Thailand government hospitals as said - suspect an accident would be taken to a private hospital as that is how money is made by emergency crews and insurance (or party at fault) would be paying (he did have insurance?).  Normally a private hospital would be quick to transfer to government facility if they are not being paid.

 

Edit:  but government hospitals are not free - they have fixed prices for everything (normally much cheaper than private) but unless authorized for free treatment there you (or I) would have to pay these charges (or at least a percentage based on income - not sure if that is still used but was in the past).  And for some things such as imported medical supplies/testing that can add up.  

$50,000 USD?

 

A great cautionary tale for anyone who thinks they'll be covered by the Thai Compulsory Insurance they paid peanuts for.  

 

(Edit:  Or lives nicely on $850 a month like I'm getting slammed for advising against in another concurrent thread...)

 

Check your policy -carefully-, have a look at your bank account, then do some math.

If this is $50,000 U.S. dollars, when it's nearly 1.8 million baht.  Entirely possible if the accident was severe and the person was taken to a private hospital or even a government hospital that wasn't the primary hospital where the Thai person had been registered to receive first line treatment.  But, a hospital will not keep a Thai person under its care if it appears that they are unable to pay the bill.  They will transfer them to the appropriate gov't hospital as soon as their condition is stable.  They won't let them run up a U.S.$50,000 bill that they are unlikely to pay.

 

Or is it possible the OP is being told this story in an attempt for his Thai friend to extract a donation?

Even Thai health insurance policies generally only cover 50% of the costs for motorcycle accidents because they are so common