Medical care in Thailand

havasu · #1 (**permalink**) 22nd June 2007, 11:34 PM

I am looking into the option of living in Thailand. Currently, I am on disability due to renal failure and a massive stroke. I no longer have to have dialysis due to organ transplant and I have been living independently.
I am interested in finding out about medical care in Thailand. Most of my current medical needs are checkups, tests and monitoring the side effects of my immuno-suppresant meds for transplant. Physical therapy and stroke rehab I have done on my own and will continue to do so where ever I go. The cost of living in Thailand appeals to me as does the warmer climate.
I am open to all opinions and would appreciate any insight you might provide.

synthia · #2 (**permalink**) 23rd June 2007, 12:48 PM

Medical care is excellent in Bangkok and Chiang Mai. People come from all over the world for bypass and other surgery.

For someone in your situation, Thailand would be especially good because on-going care and home help would be extremely cheap. I've heard costs of as little as $3US per day for a health care worker to stay with you full time after surgery.

retiredusn · #3 (**permalink**) 25th June 2007, 10:38 AM

We live in Chanthaburi, Thailand and find the medical service some of the best we have seen in the world. Most insurance companies (US)will pay the entire bill as it is about a 1/3rd of the cost in America, but check with your company to ensure they will pay out of conus.
AZ

synthia · #4 (**permalink**) 25th June 2007, 07:59 PM

Most insurance companies? In the US, the last I heard, only United Health Care would cover you.

What kind of medical insurance do you have?

buzzer · #5 (**permalink**) 29th July 2007, 03:36 PM

My experience has not been all that good here. Some things are cheap, but I had a lot of problems with prices going up once they had me in their clutches, so to speak. For a routine colonoscopy the hospital I dealt with required I stay 2 nights. My bill was about $2000 US!
Later the pharmacy charged me 800 baht @ (about 24$) for suppositories that I was able to buy at a regular Thai pharmacy for 80 baht @. That's some major gouging.
It is much cheaper to do as an out patient in the US. If you have insurance, it might be a different story. The nurses are nice, but I find most of the doctors as arrogant as their US counterparts, with less knowledge. I might have to have my colon removed. If I do I will hope to choose another country. Not because of expense, but because I don't see any pride of workmanship in people and their professions in Thailand. Get the job done quick, get the money, and go play. I'm biased. Loved the place for 2 years, but learned too much. If you are unfamiliar with Thailand, really spend some serious time here learning about the place before you pull up your roots. The honeymoon is over with me. My advice is look elsewhere.

annamartha · #6 (**permalink**) 29th July 2007, 05:18 PM

Well, hospital pharmacies are always more expensive. I can't believe you think that it is cheaper in the US, at least per procedure cost. But requiring a hospital stay for a colonoscopy is a bit much.

Where are you located, and what hospital did you go to?

synthia · #7 (**permalink**) 29th July 2007, 06:01 PM

How much experience have you had with medical care without insurance in the US? An emergency room visit with a bit of lab work and an X-ray and a couple of shots resulted in a bill of $3500. I was there for a total of six hours. Have you checked to find out what an uninsured person pays for a colonoscopy in the US?

I have heard, though, that if you don't get everything agreed to in advance, the doctors can be a bit opportunistic. However, there was a recent article in the New York Times about a common practice among oncologists of putting patients through chemotherapy unnecessarily because the insurance companies cut treatment fees but they can make money on the in-office chemo.

I am another person who is quite disillusioned with Thailand. I spent the winter in Chiang Mai, a place I liked a lot back in the 90's. The first thing I noticed is that it is no longer the land of smiles. After a while the acceptance of corruption and the aggressive prostitutes and the ugly old men with the beautiful young Thai 'girlfriends' got to me. It probably shouldn't as I am an older female and none of it affects me really. But it did start to be an unpleasant aspect of the country. All in all, I've pretty much written it off as a retirement place. But all I had to do was pack my bag, get on a bus, and leave.

buzzer · #8 (**permalink**) 29th July 2007, 06:35 PM

That was at Bankok Hospital Pattaya Branch. My drug charge for that one prescription was about 240 $. Outside it was 24 $. That's not just 'more expensive' that's gouging. They told me my stay would be about 28,000. There were no complications. The bill was 80,000. I got in their faces for about 2 hours and they brought it down to 55,000.
Some things aren't bad. To go to Pattaya International Hospital and see a general practitioner is only 250 baht. - about $7.50. Here in Samui the same thing that Bangkok Hospital Pattaya charges 300 baht for costs 1000. The fact that there are so many tourists jacks up the price. Also there are 3 tiers of payment. Thai's pay much less for everything. Then resident foreigners pay quite a bit more, (but you have to ask). Then tourists really get charged - big time! I spent 58,000 for 2 nights and 1 proceedure. I helped a Thai lady (financially) to give birth. She spent 5 nights, underwent major surgery - a cesarean section, and they took care of the baby too. Total bill, including a few doctor visits before with ultrasound was 40,000 baht. What would happen if MacDonalds in the US charged you say 50% more for a meal because you were black? Litigation, that's what. But double pricing? That is the norm here.

To be absolutely honest there are some reasons I don't want to have my bowel removed in Thailand. I'm afraid of malpractice in a country where there is no accountability. I'm afraid of incompetence by medical personel that want to just get it done and out of the way, and I wouldn't be surprised if I heard a story of a person with a lot of money going for a simple operation, and being turned into a vegetable. That would be a steady source of income with relatively little work involved. You might think this last a little far fetched, but this is in a country where babies are stolen and blinded or maimed so they can provide their 'keepers' with a life of ease with the profits from begging.

For what it's worth they say Bumrungrad in Bangkok is the best. A lot of the doctors there are trained in the US and Europe. But it is expensive. Even so do a google on Bumrungrad and Death and see what appears. Buzzer.

synthia · #9 (**permalink**) 30th July 2007, 07:37 PM

I don't know that you are going to find what you want, really. One of your requirements is cheap, and cheap usually doesn't happen in countries that have it all together. I was very impressed with the medical care I got in Singapore, at an expensive private hospital. I don't think there was any differential pricing. Singapore is cheaper than the US but not nearly as cheap as Thailand. However, unless you are going to work and have a skill they need, they are not welcoming to foreigners.

I find Malaysians a lot friendlier, and it isn't that expensive here. They do have a residency program called 'Malaysia My Second Home'. Maybe you should check it out before you leave the area.

I've been to orthopedists in both Honduras and Peru, and both times I was charged more than double what locals said they would charge, and the locals had already adjusted for the 'foreign tourist' prices. The doctor in Peru waived a bunch of charges on my second visit, when he realized I wasn't a rich American with travel insurance but a poor backpacker staying in a dormitory with shared baths and no insurance at all.

You could look into Panama and Mexico. Mexico not only has a residency program but a cheap insurance program. Look at some of the posts in the Mexico forum here.