Need Medical Advice on Thai Health Care

**DrB0b** · 22-09-2009, 12:04 PM

Just for general info;

Sickness benefit: The benefit is equal to 50% of the insured's average daily wage in the highest paid 3 months during the 9 months before the incapacity began. The benefit is paid from the first day of certified absence from work (after the end of entitlement to statutory sick pay, usually 30 days, under the labor law) for up to 90 days for each illness and for up to 180 days in any calendar year; may be extended up to 365 days for a chronic condition.

The minimum monthly earnings for benefit calculation purposes are 1,650 baht.

The maximum monthly earnings for benefit calculation purposes are 15,000 baht.

There is no minimum benefit.

Maternity benefit: The benefit is equal to 50% of the insured's average daily wage in the highest paid 3 months during the 9 months before maternity leave and is paid for up to 90 days for each childbirth.

The minimum monthly earnings for benefit calculation purposes are 1,650 baht.

The maximum monthly earnings for benefit calculation purposes are 15,000 baht.

There is no minimum benefit.

Childbirth grant: A lump sum of 12,000 baht is paid.

Workers' Medical Benefits

Medical examination and treatment, hospitalization, medicines, ambulance fees, rehabilitation, and other necessary expenses are provided under the capitation system.

The insured must register with a hospital that is under contract and benefits are delivered by the hospital with which the insured is registered. Medical care outside this hospital can be sought in case of emergency and accident only, in which case costs are reimbursed according to fixed rates.

There are no provisions for cost sharing.

Disability pensioners are entitled to receive subsidized medical care and rehabilitation.

Dependents' Medical Benefits

Necessary medical care related to childbirth for the wife of, or a woman who cohabits with, an insured man.

Administrative Organization

Ministry of Labor (¡ÃÐ·ÃÇ§áÃ§§Ò¹ :: Ministry of Labour) provides general supervision.

Social Security Office (à¸ªà¸³à¸™à¸±à¸à¸‡à¸²à¸™à¸›à¸£à¸°à¸à¸±à¸™à¸ªà¸±à¸ ‡à¸„à¸¡) collects contributions and pays cash benefits.

Medical benefits are delivered by hospitals under contract to the Social Security Office.
Social Security Programs Throughout the World: Asia and the Pacific, 2008 - Thailand

DISORDERS AND SERVICES WHICH SHALL NOT BE ENTITLED TO MEDICAL SERVICE ENTITLEMENT BENEFITS
Diseases and services which shall not be entitled to medical service (a group of 15 diseases being excepted):

Psychosis except in case of acute psychosis which requires immediate treatment and for a period of not more than 15 days.

Disorders or injury due to the use of narcotic substance under the law government narcotic drugs.

The same disease which requires hospitalization period of more than 180 days in one year.

Hemodialysis except:
In the case of acute kidney failure which requires hospitalization period of not more than 60 days shall be entitled to medical service benefits.
In the case of chronic kidney failure of final stage for which medical service benefits shall be granted by means of hemodialysis with the use of dialyzer; by means of the Chronic Peritoneal Dialysis (CPD) and by kidney transplant according to the criteria, the terms and conditions and rates prescribed in the Notification of the Zone Office of Social Security.

Any action taken for beautifying purpose with absence of medical indications.

Treatment in the course of doing researches and experiments.

Infertility.

Examination of mucus membrane for organ transplant except bone stem cell transplant.

Any examination that is exceeding the needs for curing such disease.

Organ transplant operation except the bone stem cell transplant according to the established criteria.

The sex change.

Artificial insemination

Service provided in the course of recuperation.

Dental service except in the case of tooth extraction, filling and removal of dental plaque.

Spectacles.
IN THE CASE OF SICKNESS | à¸ªà¸³à¸™à¸±à¸à¸‡à¸²à¸™à¸›à¸£à¸°à¸à¸±à¸™à¸ªà¸±à¸ ‡à¸„à¸¡

**DrivingForce** · 22-09-2009, 04:41 PM

Originally Posted by tsicar

Originally Posted by kingwilly

Originally Posted by DrivingForce

My wife is Chinese and has a social security card and uses the government hospital sometimes because it is so inexpensive even though she has company insurance too for private hospitals...

One night she was having some serious chest pains and though she is fairly young and I thought it was something else we didn't take any chances and money was tight so we opted for the government hospital.

The EKG machine was ancient like I've never seen in my lifetime with little stainless suction cups and rubber balls you pumped that held it to her skin with a vacuum but the people were nice and accommodating and apparently the machine still worked. It was very slow even late at night we must have woken up the doc or something...

They determined that she had pulled a muscle in her chest and prescribed the necessary muscle relaxants etc..That was in Bangkok believe it or not? All no charge...

One point though, as I understand it you are limited to how much money you have paid into social security and every use draws down the balance...She checks her balance all the time and keeps up to date, of course still working replenishes, but if not, it will draw down until working again..

She had serious chest pains and company insurance yet you still opted for the free option since money was tight? Hell I would not play with those odds
FUCKIN HELL, you are a class act DF, boasting what a great father and husband you are!

he sounds like he is a good father to me.
his wife went for the cheaper option, for financial reasons
anything wrong with THAT?

Thank you Tsicar for being sensible and realistic..

I've had my own health issues for some time and I never even consider any medical treatment for myself but of course I never whine about it or make it public here either especially since it's no one's business and just serves to sabotage me even more. I just take the kicks in the kidneys and roll with the punches..

My kids get top medical care and in fact that was my biggest reluctance to move back to Bangkok since we had an excellent pediatrician in Phuket, a Thai who had practiced back in my home state for years..

If I thought for one second her chest pains were that serious she would have too, but what she described to me at 2:00am did not sound that serious so for our piece of mind we got dressed and had it checked there and it was closer as well and until we got there and were being treated of course we had no idea how ancient the place was, so were we just going to get up and walk out?? When treatment was right there!

So in KW's mind if she has a real heart attack it's always better to be on the road between hospitals then at one that could help?? What a fecking judgmental prick he constantly demonstrates himself as being...That's why he's on ignore full time, he has nothing of worth or value to contribute only judgmental aggro..

**blackgang** · 22-09-2009, 04:53 PM

Originally Posted by DrivingForce

What a fecking judgmental prick he constantly demonstrates himself as being...That's why he's on ignore full time, he has nothing of worth or value to contribute only judgmental aggro..

Boy, You got that fucking right, seems to be just another Oxygen thief with an inferiority complex, and seems justifiable one too.

**DrivingForce** · 22-09-2009, 04:57 PM

Originally Posted by tsicar

Originally Posted by kingwilly

Someone has serious chest pains and he takes a cheaper option despite having company insurance? YES, there is something wrong with that, you don't mess around with possible heart attacks or strokes, on account of they kill so many so quickly

but it was HER decisiion, and i can respect that.

my last thai ex never forgave me for not allowing her to see a doc after she "shat through the eye of a needle" for two weeks.
i warned her about that pla-rah shit before she ate it, so who was to blame for the fact that she got the shites?
besides, she came out the other side looking much the better for her experirnce!!

To her they seemed serious, but unlike you KW I have a good working knowledge of what serious is and a pretty fair medical understanding. I asked her related questions to gain the intensity and location of her pains as well keeping track of her pulse and strength of it.

But for example I don't freak out over a simple cat scratch infection or come here to publicly cry to others for advice (it wouldn't get infected in the first place with me) and I know full well how to deal with it unlike some others here..

Besides my own education on the topic having been EMT trained I also had the misfortune at a young age of having to be caregiver for a terminally ill person which gives one a wide range of expertise by default. You stupidly jump to conclusions that further illustrate your consistent ignorance KW...

**Humbert** · 23-09-2009, 07:11 AM

Originally Posted by DrB0b

Originally Posted by Humbert

With Thai social insurance, one needs to select a government hospital at the beginning of every year. That will be the hospital they go to for treatment. Many government hospitals have specialties so it is best to research this.
If you are admitted for treatment you will have to pay for your room, which is quite nominal. You have a choice, costs escalating of course, of ward, semi-private and private rooms.

I've never had to pay for a room, nor has anybody else I know. I believe there are different levels of social security, depending on how much you pay into the fund, and that that might affect just what's available for free and what's not. When I first got my SS card I was given a manual showing what was available at each level of Social Security but it was in imepenetrable bureaucratese and I couldn't understand 99% of it.

Your company picks up all or a contributory amount of the room charge. My company paid 800 baht per day, I had to pick up the rest. Differs based upon the size of the company and compensation package I reckon.

**DrB0b** · 23-09-2009, 10:23 AM

Originally Posted by Humbert

Originally Posted by DrB0b

Originally Posted by Humbert

With Thai social insurance, one needs to select a government hospital at the beginning of every year. That will be the hospital they go to for treatment. Many government hospitals have specialties so it is best to research this.
If you are admitted for treatment you will have to pay for your room, which is quite nominal. You have a choice, costs escalating of course, of ward, semi-private and private rooms.

I've never had to pay for a room, nor has anybody else I know. I believe there are different levels of social security, depending on how much you pay into the fund, and that that might affect just what's available for free and what's not. When I first got my SS card I was given a manual showing what was available at each level of Social Security but it was in imepenetrable bureaucratese and I couldn't understand 99% of it.

Your company picks up all or a contributory amount of the room charge. My company paid 800 baht per day, I had to pick up the rest. Differs based upon the size of the company and compensation package I reckon.

I just asked the HR department about that. They laughed at me. They said they pay some of the SS contribution each month but there's no way they're going to pay for a room as well

What do you mean by compensation package? Are you talking about salary, which is what my company means by that, or are you talking about a package which includes some kind of private health insurance - which I don't have, I just have social security.

**kingwilly** · 23-09-2009, 11:32 AM

Fuck DF your well qualified in just about everything, medic, race driver, fitter n turner, hydrualic pump technician,solar power expert, business man, tell me again why u can't get a job?

**blackgang** · 23-09-2009, 11:56 AM

Originally Posted by Humbert

Your company picks up all or a contributory amount of the room charge. My company paid 800 baht per day, I had to pick up the rest. Differs based upon the size of the company and compensation package I reckon.

Sounds like what my wife teachers ins. pays too, I had to pay 200 baht a day for the room, everything else was paid for.

**Humbert** · 23-09-2009, 12:39 PM

Originally Posted by DrB0b

just asked the HR department about that. They laughed at me. They said they pay some of the SS contribution each month but there's no way they're going to pay for a room as well What do you mean by compensation package? Are you talking about salary, which is what my company means by that, or are you talking about a package which includes some kind of private health insurance - which I don't have, I just have social security.

They told me at the hospital that my company paid 800 baht and I could choose whatever kind of room I wanted but the difference was up to me.
By compensation package, I mean salary, benefits, perks etc.
I will have to dig further into this maybe I misunderstood something but I do know that I had to pay a part of the total room cost.

**AntRobertson** · 23-09-2009, 12:48 PM

I have to go for surgery soon, but even though I have all this Social Insurance marlarky I'm too worried to go to the Govt. hospital to have it done. And since it's deemed a 'pre-existing' condition I'm not covered under my private/Co. insurance.

End result is that I guess I'm going to be paying a couple hundred grand for some peace of mind (as much as anyone can have when getting ready to go under the knife I guess

)

**DrB0b** · 23-09-2009, 01:05 PM

Originally Posted by AntRobertson

I have to go for surgery soon, but even though I have all this Social Insurance marlarky I'm too worried to go to the Govt. hospital to have it done. And since it's deemed a 'pre-existing' condition I'm not covered under my private/Co. insurance.

End result is that I guess I'm going to be paying a couple hundred grand for some peace of mind (as much as anyone can have when getting ready to go under the knife I guess

)

Which hospital is your SS for? You have to remember that many of these so-called "Government Hospitals" are actually private hospitals that contract to take social security patients. The surgeons are the same whether you go private or SS, as are the operating theatres and the OR team. The hospital I use recently built a new SS wing, consulting rooms and accommodation which are actually considerably more luxurious than the private section. Other than that, there's no difference between the public and private sections.

I have a friend who's a doctor at one of CM's better known private hospitals. He tells me that they have a special top-floor section for private farang patients, compulsory unless the farang knows better, where the costs are almost 10 times more than for private Thai patients

**Norton** · 23-09-2009, 01:10 PM

Originally Posted by AntRobertson

I'm too worried to go to the Govt. hospital to have it done

If not too personal, what is the operation for?

**AntRobertson** · 23-09-2009, 01:48 PM

^&^^
DrB - it's CM Ram2. Do you know anything about it? I've been there once, ages ago, and following X-rays on a suspected broken hand the Dr. exclaimed that I had the biggest finger-bones he'd ever seen. Funny at the time, doesn't exactly instill me with much confidence now though!

Norts - not at all, mentioned it on here while back. Basically I have a compression of the vertebrae in my neck which has trapped the nerves (i've got no feeling in my right arm) and an associated degenerative condition of the disks, most are completely gone.

So they are going to go in, graft bone to fuse the vertebrae, and then staple it all together with a big pin (more-or-less). Apparently it's a relatively routine procedure but since it involves the nerves, spinal-column and such I'm pretty nervous about the whole thing.

**Norton** · 23-09-2009, 01:54 PM

Yes, I recall it.

If it was an appendectomy or gall bladder removal, I would opt for the government hospital. In this case, I would only go to a hospital with a surgeon with a lot experience in the procedure.

**AntRobertson** · 23-09-2009, 02:21 PM

I would only go to a hospital with a surgeon with a lot experience in the procedure.

Yep! My Dr. is apparently the leading guy in CM, trains all the others and that.

Still going to get a second opinion at Bumrungrad when I'm down in BKK next month though.

**DrAndy** · 23-09-2009, 02:54 PM

Originally Posted by DrivingForce

I've had my own health issues for some time and I never even consider any medical treatment for myself but of course I never whine about it or make it public here either especially since it's no one's business

thanks for letting us know

Originally Posted by kingwilly

Fuck DF your well qualified in just about everything, medic, race driver, fitter n turner, hydrualic pump technician,solar power expert, business man, tell me again why u can't get a job?

because he has an unknown health problem, KW

**DrAndy** · 23-09-2009, 02:56 PM

Originally Posted by AntRobertson

^&^^
DrB - it's CM Ram2. Do you know anything about it? I've been there once, ages ago, and following X-rays on a suspected broken hand the Dr. exclaimed that I had the biggest finger-bones he'd ever seen. Funny at the time, doesn't exactly instill me with much confidence now though!

Norts - not at all, mentioned it on here while back. Basically I have a compression of the vertebrae in my neck which has trapped the nerves (i've got no feeling in my right arm) and an associated degenerative condition of the disks, most are completely gone.

So they are going to go in, graft bone to fuse the vertebrae, and then staple it all together with a big pin (more-or-less). Apparently it's a relatively routine procedure but since it involves the nerves, spinal-column and such I'm pretty nervous about the whole thing.

All you need to know is that the Surgeon has performed this type of operation on a regular basis, and has been successful!

the docs in Thailand are often as good as or better than those elsewhere

the operating theatres are also first class in many hospitals

**AntRobertson** · 23-09-2009, 03:00 PM

Originally Posted by DrAndy

All you need to know is that the Surgeon has performed this type of operation on a regular basis, and has been successful!

the docs in Thailand are often as good as or better than those elsewhere

the operating theatres are also first class in many hospitals

Yep I agree. Don't get me wrong though; I'm not one of those that thinks that just because it's a Thai hospital that I'll go in for an eye-check and come out with an extra limb attached. I've had nothing but first-rate treatment when I've been unfortunate enough to need it, zero complaints here.

Rather I'm just one of those people terrified at the prospect of being sliced open. I'd be going through the same anxiety back home.

**Humbert** · 23-09-2009, 03:49 PM

Don't know anything about Rama 2 but I know that the Government hospitals run the gamut. Check it out before you go.
I had Lerdsin as my choice one year. What a scary place that was.
Ladprao General is great, they even had Faux news. So is Vethani.
How long will they keep you?

**AntRobertson** · 23-09-2009, 03:55 PM

^Doc reckons 5 days. That means a lot of TV and PSP in my near future!

Worst of it is the neckbrace which I'll have to wear for 3mths until the bone grafts take.

**kingwilly** · 23-09-2009, 04:02 PM

Geez bring your blackberry Ant so you can keep us updated. Pics too pls!

Jokes aside I understand your anxiety, sure you'll be fine,

**AntRobertson** · 23-09-2009, 04:07 PM

^Cheers mate.

And I'll be sure and snap some shots of me catheter!

**tsicar** · 23-09-2009, 08:20 PM

Originally Posted by AntRobertson

^&^^
it's CM Ram2. Do you know anything about it?
since it involves the nerves, spinal-column and such I'm pretty nervous about the whole thing.

i have it on reliable information that no farang has EVER survived an operation performed at CM Ram2.

you have good reason to be nervous:

you are probably gonna die, ant.

.............well, best wishes and all that.
i am sure that Dr.Andy is gonna miss you!

ps. is it ok if blackgang and i attend the cremation ceremony?
he doesn't drink or eat shit thai food, but i drink a bit and i don't eat shit thai food, either, so it should not cost too much, and i am prepared to put 5baht in the envelope!

**blackgang** · 23-09-2009, 08:43 PM

Originally Posted by tsicar

ps. is it ok if blackgang and i attend the cremation ceremony? he doesn't drink or eat shit Thai food, but i drink a bit and i don't eat shit Thai food, either, so it should not cost too much, and i am prepared to put 5baht in the envelope!

Thanks tsicar, I would love to go to his baking party, and I will put a 20 in the envelope and you can buy a beer after he is well one and taken out of the oven.
I went to RAM for a med. cert once for my extension, but I do not think I would ever go into RAM 2, friend took his GF there for a belly ache and she ended up in Suan Dok getting an emergency appendectomy, And I went into RAM 2 to check on some oxy gear as I needed to get some when I was up there last year and they didn't even know where they got their supply from..

So pobly see you at the cook out then,, Ciao

**tsicar** · 23-09-2009, 10:17 PM

Originally Posted by blackgang

Originally Posted by tsicar

ps. is it ok if blackgang and i attend the cremation ceremony? he doesn't drink or eat shit Thai food, but i drink a bit and i don't eat shit Thai food, either, so it should not cost too much, and i am prepared to put 5baht in the envelope!

Thanks tsicar, I would love to go to his baking party, and I will put a 20 in the envelope and you can buy a beer after he is well one and taken out of the oven.

So pobly see you at the cook out then,, Ciao

see you at the barbeque, bg!

now don't disappoint us, ant!
we are REALLY LOOKING FORWARD TO IT!

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