Thread: Health Card for Foreigners.

A friend kindly copied info about a new scheme allowing foreigners to participate in the Thai government 30 baht health project. It started in 2556.
It turns out it costs 2,200 Baht to join with an additional 600 Baht health check required at the same time. This gives one access to the Government hospital where you join the scheme, for 1 year.
My wife and I went to the Khon Kaen Central hospital, Sri Chant road, yesterday, and were guided through the process relatively painlessly.
We needed my Passport, 2 passport photos, my yellow book (Tabien bahn), and, of course, 2,800 Baht.
The initial health check went through, Height, Weight, Blood pressure, followed by Urine and Blood samples and a chest Xray.
As we went in the afternoon we had to return the next day to get the results and the card. Had we been earlier it could have been completed same day. All was well and so I am now in possession of the "Open Sesame" to the Khon khen Hospital in case of emergencies.
If you are young and well off you do not need this help, however I believe that the majority of "Farangs" are, like me, too old to get good health insurance at affordable prices, so will be very glad to have the card as a cushion against the uncertainties of old age and dry rot.
Good luck.

Never even heard of it before, thanks for posting.

Originally Posted by Farangbaba

As we went in the afternoon we had to return the next day to get the results and the card.

I didn't get mine in Khon Kaen but it took over a month before I received my card

I used to be in the scheme as an employee with my previous company in 2005.

Never used it, but got a to carry a nice card that was valid for several years.

Could only use one hospital and I wouldn't have been seen dead in it....

is the card/service linked to one specific hospital?

I have heard of the scheme but have never applied mainly because I have used the state hospital system here without paying an upfront membership fee by merely flashing a Thai driving license.

2 state hospitals in Khon Kaen have accepted me with no problems (along with other farangs I have met there). The downside is that we have needed to join the queue of several hundred other patients waiting to see the doc so expect to lose a day out of your life when visiting.

The scheme may be worth contemplating if it doesn't restrict one to a single hospital and one receives preferential treatment upon arrival.

Udon has stopped issuing and honouring it.

Originally Posted by Mr Lick

The scheme may be worth contemplating if it doesn't restrict one to a single hospital and one receives preferential treatment upon arrival.

You are restricted to the hospital named on your card which should be the hospital in your Amphur. The same one your wife uses. If the said hospital cannot treat you they will pass you on to the nearest government hospital that can.
So 2,200 Baht for a years cover, including meds. One heart attack and a stent fitted, free. Pay for procedure at a goverment hospital without the card is 160,000 Baht or there abouts.

I am glad to see some positive replies to my post. I wrote it purely to try to help farangs, like myself, who would struggle if the problem was big and or sudden.
If it proves a white elephant I am sorry, but TIT.

Originally Posted by Pragmatic

Originally Posted by Mr Lick

The scheme may be worth contemplating if it doesn't restrict one to a single hospital and one receives preferential treatment upon arrival.

You are restricted to the hospital named on your card which should be the hospital in your Amphur. The same one your wife uses. If the said hospital cannot treat you they will pass you on to the nearest government hospital that can.
So 2,200 Baht for a years cover, including meds. One heart attack and a stent fitted, free. Pay for procedure at a goverment hospital without the card is 160,000 Baht or there abouts.

To be honest I wouldn't trust my local Amphur hospital with anything more than a annual health check.

Any surgery I have required has been carried out at Khon Kaen University Hospital

:: Faculty of Medicine :: Khon Kaen University

which also contains the Queen Sirikit Heart Center for the Northeast, in it's grounds.


I underwent a 3.5 hrs operation for skin cancer there a couple of years back and the total cost including attending a clinic the day prior to the operation was 7,500 baht.

If one could nominate a reputable state hospital as an alternative to their own in the sticks then I suspect the cost of a purchasing a health card might seem worthwhile.

Originally Posted by Thaimato

The cards were actually meant for foreign workers

That is a false rumour.

There are videos of the meetings between the Thai insurance company and the chiefs of medicine in the Thai provinces where it is clearly explained by the insurance company that the scheme is for ANY foreigner including westerners.

^^ I think that to be true. When I first applied it was "no no no farang cannot have. For foreign worker only". It was the hospital that phoned me 2 months, or so, later to say "can have". What happened inbetween?

Originally Posted by Pragmatic

What happened inbetween?

Most hospitals are run by racist Thais so they assumed that it was too cheap for rich farangs. It was only after the insurance company batted them round the head a few times that they wised up.

Originally Posted by DrB0b

Originally Posted by Mr Lick

To be honest I wouldn't trust my local Amphur hospital with anything more than a annual health check.

Any surgery I have required has been carried out at Khon Kaen University Hospital

Our child was born in the local hospital. I've spent three weeks there in ICU after a motorbike crash. I've had surgery there for a hernia and for a slipped disk. All this included in my social security from work. The healthcare was excellent (they gave me morphine on demand!) and the only extra expense was B500 a day so I could have a private room. Far, far better than anything I've ever experienced in a a public hospital in the west. The hospital I chose, I had a choice of three, I think, was Lanna Hospital in Chiang Mai. Many social security hospitals are also private hospitals and the treatment you receive will be the same as private patients receive.

It's pleasing to read some positive comments of somebody's personal experiences at a local hospital. Ours is 100 kms from Khon Kaen.

Although suffering a long standing back problem (disks) myself our local hospital has no orthopaedic specialist.

I was also suffering from suspected gallstones which the doc failed to pick up during an ultrasound scan. Either the machine was malfunctioning or the doc had no idea how to operate it. (a couple of months later it was diagnosed following a scan in the UK.)

Yes, not a great deal of confidence with that hospital i'm afraid.

^^ Great post Haz. I can't understand people that use private hospitals because of a better quality of doctor. A family friend booked herself into the Bangkok Hospital. She had all her test done and tthey gave her the results 2 days later. Cost 110,000 Baht. She could afford no more so she booked herself out and went off to the government hospital. Her care would be free. And on top of that her doctor was the same one that she was under at the Bangkok Hospital. Nothing changed other than the decor and the cost.

its been well publicized for a couple of years, i first saw it on udon-news/german news site

http://udon-news.com/en

Originally Posted by Marmite the Dog

Originally Posted by Thaimato

The cards were actually meant for foreign workers

That is a false rumour.

There are videos of the meetings between the Thai insurance company and the chiefs of medicine in the Thai provinces where it is clearly explained by the insurance company that the scheme is for ANY foreigner including westerners.

Yep - and I ain't really going to disagree (or agree) with anyone on this one. Personally, I hope the scheme continues "as is", but on other forums you can already read of whitey farangs with cards being bummed off by the hospitals. Hopefully, it's just very few places taking that attitude and that the majority of areas are still treating whiteys the same as Thais.

Anyway, wait until the new government is in place - then maybe things will become clearer. In the meantime - good 'ealth to all!

Originally Posted by peterpan

its been well publicized for a couple of years

7 or 8 months isn't a couple of years. Get back in your coffin.

I Have been going to Thai Hospitals for 10 years, but at the beginning of the year, I heard about the scheme and registered, it worked out great for me, as the 2,200 baht covers cost for a year.
My med that cost me a little over 1000 baht a month, now all my medication under the scheme is free, as I see it I will save money in the long run.

My wife was in a motorbike accident and all cost was free except the 600 baht per day cost of a private room.
Medical care is the same as I have been receiving for the last decade, I hope the new government does not stop the scheme as it was PTP idea.

I can not complain, Oh yes I can only go to the Amphur hospital.

Cheers

I've no proof but things may be changing, or have changed? 30 Bht health scheme for Farangs, to finalize. - Health, Body and Medicine - Thailand Forum

Originally Posted by Kikoman

My wife was in a motorbike accident and all cost was free except the 600 baht per day cost of a private room.

I was in a couple of motorbike accidents and all my medical bills were paid, without a medical card!

Including the overnight stays.