Thread: Foreigners crying foul over the new dual pricing policy at Thai public hospitals

A few feathers may be being spat....

Thailand’s expat community is reeling after the news of Thai public hospitals given the greenlight to charge foreigners higher rates for foreigners than the locals – a classic dual-pricing policy.


The new split rates kick in from September 29. But the health ministry say the new rates actually provide more set prices for services and procedures and, in some cases, charges may drop for some foreigners.

The unpopular Thai policy of dual pricing will now cover public hospital care, not just national parks, museums and amusement parks. Public hospitals in Thailand will now be able to legally charge foreign nationals higher rates for services under new regulations published last week.


There will now be four tiers of rates that can be charged for services based on the patient’s visa status in the Kingdom – Thai nationals, foreigners from neighbouring countries, working foreigners on non-immigrant visas, and tourists and retirees.

For example, an HIV test costs 160 baht if you’re Thai. It goes up to 240 baht for working expats and then to 320 baht for retirees and tourists.

Or, a spinal MRI examination will cost Thais 18,700 baht. That jumps to 23,375 baht for working expats and 28,050 baht for retirees and tourists.

But the costs, allowing greater charges for working foreigners and tourists, will still be a lot less than the charges at most Thai private hospitals. Private hospitals have been accused of price gouging their foreign patients for years and have recently come to the attention of consumer groups and the public health ministry for their overcharging for medications issued by their own dispensaries, from 30% more up to 300% in some reported cases.

Public hospitals now will have a more accurate base of costings for different levels of patients, something that has been arbitrary and ad hoc in the past.

Thais receive mostly free medical care through the Universal Healthcare Program administered by the Public Health Ministry.

https://thethaiger.com/hot-news/expats/foreigners-crying-foul-over-the-new-dual-pricing-policy-at-thai-public-hospitals

Originally Posted by Shank

Thais have cottoned on to Go Fund Me schemes in the same way Thailand Post EMS now charge the same as TNT/FedEx/UPS/DHL.

Wait until some bright spark spots the dual pricing scheme for water and electricity that they have in Dubai for locals and expats....

That will have 90% of the farang running for the border.

i have to post my 24hrs.experiance at a goverment hospital in nakhon ratchasima,
sat 10hrs.sat along with hundreds of others,with me just wanting to make an appiontment to see a specialist.onlt to be told go home and come back and make an another trip.
monday was worse 12hrs.sat on a plastic chair going from one place to another,finaly getting to the right dept.told go and have a blood test,ok.sorry we now go to lunch,me ariving 5am.having to sit and wait till 1pm.for test.result not ready till 3pm.finaly see a doctor only to be told WRONG PLACE. sent to 2other places then told come back thurs.wednesday its a holliday,no consultant.its 5.15pm.and i have had enough.right from the start they fuked up everything i told them.NO MORE if i have to keep a check on my health its goner be PRIVATE.
OH AND JUST I DONT KNOW IF THEY WERE PISS TAKING,BEFORE THE BLOOD TEST [125BHT] I HAD TO GO PAY FIRST.
so that's a little taste or should I say A BITTER ONE of whats to come if you go to a GOV.HOSPITAL?and that was only to see a doctor.
ANYBODY KNOW OF A HORSE DOCTOR.

Originally Posted by headhunter

if i have to keep a check on my health its goner be PRIVATE.

Of course Goes without saying. Can't imagine any Westerner here happily using Thai government hospitals.

The few K baht it would have cost would have saved you a few days of that shite.

No brainer, really.

I assume you are speaking of the Magrahat hospital? Always go to the Fort Suranaree Military hospital. You won't regret it.

Originally Posted by Luigi

Of course Goes without saying. Can't imagine any Westerner here happily using Thai government hospitals.

I do. Several million bahts worth of first class treatment nearly completely free (through my work social insurance). Prescription drugs without a huge markup (it would cost me tens of thousands per year even without the private mark up, I pay per year less than 5,000). Got a decent doctor with enough English to get us through.

The only thing to remember is that all the Thai around you are going through the exact same crap.

Fairy muff.

I used to go to a monthly hypertension clinic, at a Thai Village hospital. The clinic started at 1pm. I would rock up just before 12 mid day, then go for scoff and a drink.
Always in the first two in the clinic queue at 1pm.
Use the system, just like you would back home. It's medicine not rocket science. Concur with Nids view on pricing too. Damn cheap.

Reading posts by Dragonfly and seekingass has cured my hypertension too. Laughter truly the best medicine. No more drugs for me.

Might be wrong, I'm not infallible, but I rather think you may well be a tad manic depressive, or bi polar in today's money.

Would explain a lot.

The wife goes to Nopparat hospital in Minburi, she spent a few days there in the stroke ward and will have her operation there after the first of the year. No complaints.

Originally Posted by David48atTD

But, the other side of the coin, when it comes to the kids being born 5 years ago, were Private.

Not expensive, same price as the Thais

Child birth in Thai hospitals is free unless one does not use the hospital to which one is registered to. Or a private room is requested. What difference, other the cost, does one get by paying private. They deliver a baby privately in exactly the same way as the free way.

^ My Thai Partner carrying Triplets.

We lost one on the way.

She asked for Private ... she doesn't ask for much, I was happy to say yes.

But agreed Prag Public was an option.

What is the difference? TBH, I don't know as we never have had a child in the Public system.

Maybe I'll find out as she keeps pinching me and asking for one more ... try harder David ... work more!

Originally Posted by David48atTD

. try harder David ... work more!

You work?

Always assumed you were set up.

Originally Posted by cyrille

You work?

Always assumed you were set up.

Me tounge nid noi.

Minted ... No - I never get to turn left as I enter a Plane

For real, I'll probably have to dive back into that corporate pool again later next year.

I wonder if I remember how to tie a tie ... it's been more than a decade<sup>*




*</sup> ... or is it 'then' because I referencing time?

Nev ... !

I was visiting a Kiwi friend who was in Surat government hospital. His insurance covered a private room but he declined that. His bed was in a corridor, in sight of the ward office, and because he had few regular visitors, the relatives of Thai patients nearby just adopted him. He loved that.

i generally oppose dual pricing, but in the case of medical care at a govt. funded public hospital, it may be warranted--but differentiating between foreigners from neighboring countries and others is absurd. and at private hospitals there certainly shouldn't be any dual pricing whatsoever.

seems some member got it right,BIPOLAR DISORDER.

have used private and public university hospitals prior to recent dual pricing at public.

public was well organized and efficient though due to sheer volume of pts wait is longer. quality is the same as private and many of the doctors especially surgical subspecialties work at both

private was faster and more expensive though the cost of same mri at private and public was the same. many privates have dual pricing but they dont tell you or make it obvious or print it in english... if i didnt read thai would never know though later a doctor i was dating told me she could get the thai price for me at her hospital, a private one.