English woman, 68, fights for life in Phuket hospital after car accident kills son, husband

[stevenl]

4 hours ago, Ulic said:

As it was the fault of the other driver why is their insurance not covering it.

You apparently know more than I and many others do.

Even if correct, chances are the insurance of the other party is limited, i.e. only compulsory. Apparently their own car insurance was very limited as well.

[captspectre]

13 hours ago, cms22 said:

I have a friend (former colleague) who works at the embassy. She says it's down to the bare bones there. Barely enough staff to cover the basic diplomatic and business areas that are its priority. Help for expats (whatever their predicament) is very much a secondary priority, I'm afraid. Wasn't always thus but the U.K. is no longer in the Premier League of Nations. Sad indeed.


Sent from my iPhone using Thaivisa Connect

IF help for expats are a second priority? what is their first priority? hob knobbing with the PM? attending parties? taking british and Thai holidays?what do they do? and what's with the bare bones? is Britain so poor that it cannot support their face in thailand? if so then GO HOME! you are useless to everyone but yourself!

[Lone Ranger]

10 minutes ago, captspectre said:

IF help for expats are a second priority? what is their first priority? hob knobbing with the PM? attending parties? taking british and Thai holidays?what do they do? and what's with the bare bones? is Britain so poor that it cannot support their face in thailand? if so then GO HOME! you are useless to everyone but yourself!

Hear ! Hear !

[KarenBravo]

29 minutes ago, captspectre said:

IF help for expats are a second priority? what is their first priority? hob knobbing with the PM? attending parties? taking british and Thai holidays?what do they do? and what's with the bare bones? is Britain so poor that it cannot support their face in thailand? if so then GO HOME! you are useless to everyone but yourself!

Drumming up trade and business for British industry.

It certainly isn't baby-sitting it's citizens.

[BangkokNicky]

fco spend by foreign policy priorities for supporting british nationals is only 3% these days it could be better to be honest with you when you look at what the whole budget goes on around the world ..  

 

The Foreign Office spends more than £14m per year on private school fees for children of its staff, including £6m for staff based in the UK. http://www.bbc.com/news/education-37354267

 

Departmental Overview 2015-16 Foreign Commonwealth Office : https://www.nao.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/Departmental-Overview-2015-16-Foreign-Commonwealth-Office.pdf

 

FCO Annual Report 2016 :https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/539413/FCO_Annual_Report_2016_ONLINE.pdf

Edited June 3, 2017 by BangkokNicky

[beechbum]

2 hours ago, Ramen087 said:

@ Giuseppe D --> the bupa insurance you have covers you and your wife when you are traveling outside of thailand, correct??

Was wondering the same.

[NamKangMan]

3 hours ago, Ramen087 said:

@ Giuseppe D --> the bupa insurance you have covers you and your wife when you are traveling outside of thailand, correct??

 

I can't speak for Giuseppe, but Bupa do offer Global coverage health insurance and travel insurance policies.

 

https://www.bupaglobal.com/en

 

 

 

Edited June 3, 2017 by NamKangMan

[stevenl]

10 minutes ago, NamKangMan said:

 

I can't speak for Giuseppe, but Bupa do offer Global coverage health insurance and travel insurance policies.

 

https://www.bupaglobal.com/en

 

 

 

Bupa Travel Insurance will not accept new policies for people over 70 (which the husband was).

[the guest]

I think there should be a real push for ALL foreigners staying in Thailand, either holiday or otherwise, to obtain compulsory insurance. It should be one of the conditions of entering the kingdom. Sorry, If you don't have insurance, then really you shouldn't be allowed in. 

[NamKangMan]

27 minutes ago, stevenl said:

Bupa Travel Insurance will not accept new policies for people over 70 (which the husband was).

 

I haven't read their T &C's but I will accept what you say as this is common practice with many travel insurance companies, however, not all companies.

 

Why wouldn't she take out a policy, being only 68 years of age, and minimize the financial risk to the family unit by half? 

 

In any case, a quick Google reveals quite a few travel insurance companies in the UK offering travel insurance for seniors.

 

Here's a random one.

 

https://www.insureandgo.com/travel-insurance/over-65s-travel-insurance?ssauda=76119&gclid=CNPVu7fuoNQCFcIXaAodnSoHqw&gclsrc=aw.ds&dclid=CKyY4LjuoNQCFcOVaAodj5sGvA

 

Quote: "We believe travel insurance should be available to as many people as possible. So that's why we have no upper age limit for our policies and can consider any medical conditions you might have."

 

Out of curiosity, I ran a scenario through their online quote system.

 

The scenario was,  "Worldwide cover excluding USA etc, 2 weeks away in July, traveler number 1 is 68 years of age and traveler number 2 is 74 years of age.

 

Price quotes:  Budget - 155GBP

                          Silver   -  216GBP 

                          Gold     -  270GBP

                          Annual Silver - 298GBP

 

Hardly cost inhibitive, is it? 

 

As stated, if you can't afford travel insurance, you can't afford to travel. 

 

[stevenl]

Yes, why did they not have travel insurance? Or health insurance with coverage outside of the UK? Why did the guilty party (if the stated above is correct) not have adequate insurance? Why did the son not have 1st class insurance on his car?

Many insurance policies could have solved this. Maybe she was one of the regular TV users who are always claiming that insurance is wasted money anyway since they will not pay.

 

But she is in a predicament now without insurance.

[GuiseppeD]

4 hours ago, Ramen087 said:

@ Giuseppe D --> the bupa insurance you have covers you and your wife when you are traveling outside of thailand, correct??

Our Bupa travel insurance is purchased from the UK as we only visit Thailand.  So it's worldwide coverage except North America.

 

We travel abroad a fair bit, i.e. not just Thailand, so the annual policy suits us well so can pretty much forget about it until renewal time, for which Bupa always sends us a reminder email.

[GuiseppeD]

1 hour ago, stevenl said:

Bupa Travel Insurance will not accept new policies for people over 70 (which the husband was).

Sadly, the husband doesn't require it now.  Though, his unfortunate wife may have to sell their house to meet the medical bills and repatriation costs, that's if she indeed owns her own home in the UK.

 

The JustGiving fundraiser has only raised GBP 1.9k as of this morning.

[UnkleMoooose]

She must be 78 (and looks it too!!!!) otherwise she had her son at 14. Even with the staggering underclass issues that the English have, that seems improbable.

[Ramen087]

On 6/3/2017 at 0:23 PM, GuiseppeD said:

Our Bupa travel insurance is purchased from the UK as we only visit Thailand.  So it's worldwide coverage except North America.

We travel abroad a fair bit, i.e. not just Thailand, so the annual policy suits us well so can pretty much forget about it until renewal time, for which Bupa always sends us a reminder email.

Thank you kindly for the response. 

[fatdrunkandstupid]

The lady is on her death bed and still getting scammed.

 

The best care in Phuket is found at Vichira.  Most of the better doctors are resident there and then do the rounds to Bangkok, International, Mission and so on.

 

The top private rooms in Vichira are a fraction of the cost of a room in Bangkok hospital.

 

She was in a government hospital in Surat, so of course she had to be moved to the most expensive hospital in Thailand.

 

The guy trying to organize the crowd funding would do better to first focus upon getting her the hell out of Bangkok hospital.

Edited June 4, 2017 by fatdrunkandstupid

[stevenl]

20 minutes ago, fatdrunkandstupid said:

The lady is on her death bed and still getting scammed.

 

The best care in Phuket is found at Vichira.  Most of the better doctors are resident there and then do the rounds to Bangkok, International, Mission and so on.

 

The top private rooms in Vichira are a fraction of the cost of a room in Bangkok hospital.

 

She was in a government hospital in Surat, so of course she had to be moved to the most expensive hospital in Thailand.

 

The guy trying to organize the crowd funding would do better to first focus upon getting her the hell out of Bangkok hospital.

Says he in the same thread where others are saying that public hospitals are no good. All a matter of perception.

 

Agree with you though, she should be moved to Vachira.

 

 

[impulse]

43 minutes ago, stevenl said:

Says he in the same thread where others are saying that public hospitals are no good. All a matter of perception.

 

Agree with you though, she should be moved to Vachira.

 

Could be a non-starter if she can't demonstrate an ability to pay.  They may not accept her, and BKK Hospital may not be willing to let her leave until her bill is handled.

 

Tragic as it is for the poor lady, this is a great cautionary tale for foreign visitors on the logistics of emergency health care.  Even if she has travel (or any) insurance, how would anyone (who is still alive) know?  And do they pay in advance, or does she have to pay first then file for reimbursement?

 

All questions to know the answers to before the emergency.

 

Edited June 4, 2017 by impulse

[fatdrunkandstupid]

5 hours ago, impulse said:

 

Could be a non-starter if she can't demonstrate an ability to pay.  They may not accept her, and BKK Hospital may not be willing to let her leave until her bill is handled.

 

Tragic as it is for the poor lady, this is a great cautionary tale for foreign visitors on the logistics of emergency health care.  Even if she has travel (or any) insurance, how would anyone (who is still alive) know?  And do they pay in advance, or does she have to pay first then file for reimbursement?

 

All questions to know the answers to before the emergency.

 

Yeah.  Not letting her leave is just the next phase in the scam.

[madmax2]

If you do not have insurance either because of cost or age and you do not have enough money to self insure yourself as far as costs go you should stop in your home country if you are covered by medical insurance there, most countries have medical insurance cover for their own citizens

And why would people donate to a fund to cover hospital expenses of someone who did not take out adequate travel insurance for themselves before travelling overseas, quite often to just save the cost of insurance, i do not give money to beggars in the street either

I know the Australian travel agent i deal with require you to sign a form saying you have refused to take out a travel insurance if you do not insure yourself, if you cannot afford to insure yourself you should not travel overseas

[fatdrunkandstupid]

2 hours ago, madmax2 said:

If you do not have insurance either because of cost or age and you do not have enough money to self insure yourself as far as costs go you should stop in your home country if you are covered by medical insurance there, most countries have medical insurance cover for their own citizens

And why would people donate to a fund to cover hospital expenses of someone who did not take out adequate travel insurance for themselves before travelling overseas, quite often to just save the cost of insurance, i do not give money to beggars in the street either

I know the Australian travel agent i deal with require you to sign a form saying you have refused to take out a travel insurance if you do not insure yourself, if you cannot afford to insure yourself you should not travel overseas

Why take out insurance when there are so many crowd funding opportunities?

[music065]

I checked the crowdfunding page for this and it stated they've raised £2000 with a goal of £5000. That's much lower than I expected. Surely her medical bills will be much higher than this for a considerable stay in a private hospital.