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Hua Hin Info
More information on the Hua Hin area can be found on these websites:
Tourism Hua Hin: tourist and travel info and guides
Hua Hin Expat: the town's first and original expat website.
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Hua Hin Classifieds: free online classifieds for Hua Hin. |
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bozzman101
Professional
Joined: 05 Nov 2006
Posts: 361
Location: hua hin
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 Posted: Sun Jan 07, 2007 2:05 am Post subject: is health care exp????? |
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just so many things to think about before my departuer to hua hin
anyone got an insight into health care planS????????? 
BOZZ 
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Once you go Asian you will never go Caucasian !! |
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dane48
Specialist
Joined: 29 Oct 2006
Posts: 151
Location: Denmark
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| Posted: Mon Jan 08, 2007 12:54 am Post subject: Re: is health care exp????? |
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| bozzman101 wrote: | just so many things to think about before my departuer to hua hin
anyone got an insight into health care planS?????????
BOZZ |
Try to take a look at this tread - might be helpful
http://www.huahinafterdark.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=5008
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The charm of asia is more than the girlies ! |
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janeria
Novice
Joined: 13 Aug 2006
Posts: 9
Location: England
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| Posted: Thu Mar 29, 2007 8:59 pm Post subject: |
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Hi Bozzman - we are also moving to Hua Hin in May - did you get any joy with obtaining info about health plans and cost in Thailand? Reason I ask is that we were quoted a few months ago from our own insurers in the UK for an International Policy which would cover our retirement in Thailand - however having now made the arrangements to move and asked them to confirm the amount quoted they have doubled their premiums, saying that their last quote was wrong. This is despite my initially making many calls to them to ensure that what they were saying was right and the cover involved. I am taking it up with them but am now wondering whether it would be cheaper to take out a policy with a Thai Company - any advice you could give on your experiences would be greatly appreciated.
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Nereus
Guru
Joined: 02 Jan 2007
Posts: 598
Location: Hua Hin
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| Posted: Thu Mar 29, 2007 11:31 pm Post subject: Health care |
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| janeria wrote: | | - we are also moving to Hua Hin in May - did you get any joy with obtaining info about health plans and cost in Thailand? |
I have sent you a pm, found this man very reliable. 
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egeefay
Amateur
Joined: 06 Mar 2006
Posts: 36
Location: California, USA
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| Posted: Sun May 06, 2007 6:14 am Post subject: Health care plans |
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Why not just self insure. Put aside the money you would normally spend on medical premiums and use it to pay bills as the come.
Thailand isn't like the west...where you can't afford not to have insurance.
The cost of a medical procedure in Thailand can sometimes be 1/10 the price you'd pay in the west.
Most Thais I know don't carry health insurance.
They just pay cash for any hospital bills. |
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DawnHRD
Legend
Joined: 22 Sep 2005
Posts: 3059
Location: Not always where I want to be
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| Posted: Sun May 06, 2007 8:38 am Post subject: Re: Health care plans |
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| egeefay wrote: | Most Thais I know don't carry health insurance.
They just pay cash for any hospital bills. |
....or languish in a 30 bt hospital where they or their families are supposed to complete basic hygiene procedures (washing/toileting etc) and medical procedures (administering oxygen) for themselves, no matter how ill they are. Where they have a chance of being wrongly diagnosed by overworked doctors & where half the patients have to sleep on trolleys in the corridors, because there are not enough beds.
Oh, sorry, I misread. Most Thais you know, not most Thais. You obviously know better off Thais than I do.
Unless you are very well off or very lucky (ie you are lucky enough not to get something unexpected & expensive), janeira, go with insurance. Most of my Mum's savings went on her cancer treatment (mastectomy, radiotherapy, chemotherapy) & my boyfriend's treatment when he contracted pneumonia & subsequent organ failure. Sh!t happens, and unless you have unlimited funds, hospital treatment, even here, can eat away at your savings. 
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prcscct
Legend
Joined: 23 Mar 2004
Posts: 3277
Location: Looking for a moonlit buffet.
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| Posted: Sun May 06, 2007 9:01 am Post subject: Re: Health care plans |
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| DawnHHDRC wrote: | | ....or languish in a 30 bt hospital where they or their families are supposed to complete basic hygiene procedures (washing/toileting etc) and medical procedures (administering oxygen) for themselves, no matter how ill they are. Where they have a chance of being wrongly diagnosed by overworked doctors & where half the patients have to sleep on trolleys in the corridors, because there are not enough beds. |
I experienced exactly that when my partner's step sister had her gall bladder removed at a 30 Baht hospital in Sriracha. We visited and I lasted in the 100 bed ward about 5 minutes before I had to go out on a small balcony to get the color back into my face again.
It was a scene out of dantes inferno to be sure. Some very sick people and no one caring for them at all. Fouled bedding, overflowing bed pans, operation drainage containers with tubes not attached and simply dripping onto the floor.
Patients were very embarrassed as well to see me or anyone looking at them. Many simply pulled the covers over their faces. Not an atmosphere to try to heal in at all. If me, I'd simply go home and take my chances.
Also, she developed a serious infection from some botched part of her operation and had to go back a month later for corrective surgery.
Another short story...my ex-grandmother in-law had a heart attack some years back. The doctor at the hospital simply said, "she's old, it's time for her to die...."  and she did, fighting and swearing to the end that they weren't even trying to help her. My wife and I weren't in country or the outcome may have been different. The other Thai family members here at the time simpy accepted the doctors decision. Pete |
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lomuamart
Moderator
Joined: 31 Dec 2002
Posts: 4713
Location: hua hin
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| Posted: Sun May 06, 2007 12:06 pm Post subject: |
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I'd agree with the above. A couple of years ago, I had a nasty accident on the motorbike. A car smashed into us broadside and my leg was split open from knee to ankle. Was taken to HH hospital - the public one here - and after a three hour operation to stitch the leg back together, I woke up on a gurney in the corridor. No fans, mosquitoes, flies and people slopping out around me. A friend who came up pointed out that if I stayed there, the chances of infection were pretty high and I might eventually end up losing the leg.
That scared me enough to insist I was transferred to San Paulo, where I was for the next ten days. Fortunately, the driver of the car stopped and was fully insured. The bill at SP was over 100,000 Baht. I don't have insurance and really should do something about that.
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buksida
Moderator
Joined: 31 Dec 2002
Posts: 5239
Location: south of sanity
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| Posted: Sun May 06, 2007 12:08 pm Post subject: Re: Health care plans |
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| egeefay wrote: |
The cost of a medical procedure in Thailand can sometimes be 1/10 the price you'd pay in the west. |
I take it you've never had the misfortune to get treatment in San Paolo then?
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DawnHRD
Legend
Joined: 22 Sep 2005
Posts: 3059
Location: Not always where I want to be
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| Posted: Sun May 06, 2007 2:45 pm Post subject: Re: Health care plans |
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| prcscct wrote: | | DawnHHDRC wrote: | | ....or languish in a 30 bt hospital where they or their families are supposed to complete basic hygiene procedures (washing/toileting etc) and medical procedures (administering oxygen) for themselves, no matter how ill they are. Where they have a chance of being wrongly diagnosed by overworked doctors & where half the patients have to sleep on trolleys in the corridors, because there are not enough beds. |
I experienced exactly that when my partner's step sister had her gall bladder removed at a 30 Baht hospital in Sriracha. We visited and I lasted in the 100 bed ward about 5 minutes before I had to go out on a small balcony to get the color back into my face again.
It was a scene out of dantes inferno to be sure. Some very sick people and no one caring for them at all. Fouled bedding, overflowing bed pans, operation drainage containers with tubes not attached and simply dripping onto the floor.
Patients were very embarrassed as well to see me or anyone looking at them. Many simply pulled the covers over their faces. Not an atmosphere to try to heal in at all. If me, I'd simply go home and take my chances.
Also, she developed a serious infection from some botched part of her operation and had to go back a month later for corrective surgery.
Another short story...my ex-grandmother in-law had a heart attack some years back. The doctor at the hospital simply said, "she's old, it's time for her to die...." and she did, fighting and swearing to the end that they weren't even trying to help her. My wife and I weren't in country or the outcome may have been different. The other Thai family members here at the time simpy accepted the doctors decision. Pete |
I was also speaking from experience Pete. My boyfriend was in HH Hospital a couple of times & various Thai friends have been too. The last time BF was there was 2 weeks before he died (the start of the illness). He had pneumonia which was misdiagnosed as asthma (asthma, for the first time at age 38?). They had him cleaning himself & administering his own oxygen despite the fact he could barely sit up. 2 days later he was in a coma (in a private hospital in BKK where we had transferred him, via SP). He did die, as most of you know. But I wonder how much quicker his death would have been there in HH Hospital... A lot quicker, less comfortable & less dignified.
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migrant
Professional
Joined: 08 Aug 2006
Posts: 472
Location: California now, Thailand soon
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| Posted: Sun May 06, 2007 6:41 pm Post subject: |
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My Mom died from cancer, and I have had friends also go.
I don't want to be stuck in these group hospitals. I don't need anything fancy, but I'm there to get better, not worse.
I hate the idea of paying for insurance, but I know it's a necesary evil. |
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Rider
Guru
Joined: 17 Apr 2005
Posts: 534
Location: Thailand
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| Posted: Fri May 11, 2007 11:57 pm Post subject: |
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Still, if all someone is paying is a mere 30 baht for their treatment then many would argue that the poor hospital conditions are a price worth paying for having extremely affordable treatment.
For farang though I think the thirty baht health care is exclusive to Thai nationals only so the whole thing is moot point for the OP.
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DawnHRD
Legend
Joined: 22 Sep 2005
Posts: 3059
Location: Not always where I want to be
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| Posted: Sat May 12, 2007 7:46 am Post subject: |
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| Rider wrote: | Still, if all someone is paying is a mere 30 baht for their treatment then many would argue that the poor hospital conditions are a price worth paying for having extremely affordable treatment.
For farang though I think the thirty baht health care is exclusive to Thai nationals only so the whole thing is moot point for the OP. |
I think that's the whole point, though, Rider. Even for 30bt the treatment is woefully inadequate.
Obviously the 30bt scheme has to be subsidised healthcare. It doesn't really cost 30bt per day to treat these patients, so the govt/local authorities should (IMO) get off the fence & decide whether to provide decent healthcare for the poor (30 bt or no 30 bt) or to provide no healthcare for them. The situation in many of these hospitals is absolutely dire.
Having said that, I have heard that some of the public hospitals are very good, so I do tend to wonder if it's all dependent on local authorities rather than national govt.
And, of course, as Farang we don't qualify for the 30bt, but as Sarge & others will testify, we can be admitted to the public hospitals & get treatment far cheaper than private hospitals.
What frustrates me about this is that they have gone down what I believe to be the right road - they just haven't gone far enough. Cheap healthcare for the poor is wonderful, but it needs to be adequate care, otherwise there's no point.
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lomuamart
Moderator
Joined: 31 Dec 2002
Posts: 4713
Location: hua hin
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| Posted: Sat May 12, 2007 11:30 am Post subject: |
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Someone's got to pay for it though.
In a land where taxes are pretty much a figment of everyones' imagination and there's not much concept of "help thy neighbour", the 30Baht healthcare system is about as good as anyone's going to get.
I've seen a lot of public hospitals upcountry and I've had to visit a few for treatment to cuts and scrapes. It's a salutory lesson to visit a ward there - whole families camped down and feeding the patient. Nurses and doctors treating me/prescribing me medical care and I've got to tell them what to do.
However, those people with serious complaints were "talking to trees" a few years ago. You can see the hope, despair and most importantly the ignorance (and I don't mean that badly) in their eyes. They're looking for a cure, but there maybe isn't one or the medical team aren't good enough to diagnose and treat it.
Still, there's hope and maybe, just maybe, it's got to be better than praying to that banyan tree.
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sargeant
Ace
Joined: 19 Sep 2006
Posts: 1868
Location: Hua Hin
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| Posted: Sun May 13, 2007 9:24 pm Post subject: |
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Just a small point a little of topic but educational to the topic  if you are paying tax in the uk you are entitled to use the nhs and my P60 was all that was needed to register and was requested shown photocopied and filed
as for using the public hospitals in thailand my experience does not tally with dawns or others i feel the service and care i recieved was (and please read my description carefully) more than adequate and excelent within the confines of the hospitals finances.One is not going to get transplant or eternal life surgery in a public thai hospital.
The doctors skill and diagnosis has been ratified and agreed by the doctor here so i have personally no problems whatso ever and i am extremely gratefull for there ministrations
I can see that having ones butt hanging out for all and sundry to see in a mixed ward can be a little disconcerting and then being shunted of onto a long waiting list ohh sorry thats the UK system blair is getting slagged of about that over here
Start again i can understand that being in a thai ward way overcrowded is probably not the way most farangs would go but you get what you pay for
By the way one is fed by the hospital it dont taste very good and it is basic but one is fed
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