I always thought I was a healthy guy. One of those healthy guys who rarely gets sick and then recovers quickly. Hell, even my doctor raves about how good my liver is during my annual checkups. And despite my robust health, I’ve been to almost as many hospitals in Bangkok as I have bars. Okay, I’m exaggerating.
But for a guy who went a long time without travel insurance for Thailand, I’ve had my fair share of challenges with clinics and doctors here. And thank goodness that when I was traveling without insurance, the goddess of fortune was (almost) always on my side.
To start, I would always recommend the best travel insurance for Thailand that covers a significant amount of your medical expenses (you’ll find out why in the following lines). Of course, pay upfront so you don’t have to pay anything out of your own pocket.
The IATI Star (with discount included) from IATI Insurance travel could be one of them, as it is the most comprehensive and recommended option for traveling to Thailand.
But let’s get to the crux of the matter. I’d say I have some experience in Thai hospitals. Amongst other things, I’ve found myself face down on a stretcher with my pants down while a doctor injected anesthesia into my behind and a nurse approached with a machine that emitted electric sparks.
Or when a mosquito bit me and I hit the jackpot: hemorrhagic dengue, the worst kind. It was like having a dwarf from Middle Earth pounding my brain with his hammer for days, or so my feverish mind imagined. Not to mention the pain that racked my aching bones.
My hospital stays and visits are numerous, and yet—as I’ve said—I think I’m in robust health. But of course, I’ve been run over three times, bitten by an infectious beetle, and above all, I’ve become the lustful desire of every virus and bacteria around here.
So much so that when the pandemic hit, I was one of the first to catch the virus. I was confined to hospital for ten days, leaving with lung damage. But don’t worry, my robust health healed my body and left no after-effects.
All this comes to mind because this year in Spain there has been more talk than ever about Thai hospital tragedies. The more sensationalist people have even said that my adopted home is cruel to tourists- because, of course, they charge a fortune to those who came here just to have a good time.
They ignore the fact that free public healthcare in Spain is a huge benefit for some of us in Europe, even though others want to ruin it with co-payments and mutual insurance schemes.
But this miracle is something unique to just a few places in the West, and in the rest of the world, without money, unfortunately, there’s no treatment. The alternative to avoiding paying a fortune if something goes wrong is to have good travel insurance for Thailand. And let me stress- it needs to be good.
Thailand is a middle ground between countries like Spain, where Thai healthcare is a right, and other, much less supportive countries like the United States, where without dollars, there are no doctors.
Because in the kingdom formerly known as Siam, all workers have social security, and the rest of the Siamese have options that allow them to access a public healthcare system funded by the government.
The best doctors are in public hospitals, as is the case in social Europe, but then they get rich working overtime in private centers. In government hospitals, the wait times are endless and the amenities are nonexistent.
It’s common to see patients queuing up at 6 a.m. because they know the doctors won’t be able to see everyone in time. However, the healthcare workers are excellent, and if you have to undergo surgery, you’ll be in the safest hands.
If you’re about to stop reading because you think social security is all you need in Thailand in case of disaster, don’t do so just yet. Foreigners can access the Siamese public healthcare system, of course, but it will never be free.
This benefit is only available to those born there and foreigners who are legally employed in the country and pay taxes.
If you’re just traveling or passing through, you’d have to pay in a public hospital. And if you’ve made the same mistake I did in my younger years here, then social security might become your best friend- that is, if you’re short on cash but have picked up some Thai along the way.
Because yes, my dear friends, speaking English here is something people kindly do, but the language spoken by the majority is, naturally, Thai. And don’t expect staff at a private hospital to communicate in any language other than Thai.
I know what I’m talking about. When a taxi hit me more than 13 years ago and I was left in tatters, my travel insurance for Thailand had expired. So I went to a shabby hospital in northern Bangkok so as not to damage my wallet as much as I had damaged my body. They took X-rays, treated me, and pumped me full of pills. The total bill didn’t even come to ten euros.
One unfortunate afternoon, my friend, the good Bashayed, full of bad luck and bad temper, slammed his bare foot against a column. He was training Muay Thai with some professional fighters and aimed poorly: instead of hitting his partner’s shield, he kicked the concrete.
His foot burst open like an accordion, he couldn’t tell what worried him more — that it might ruin his ability to walk, or that they wouldn’t operate because he was broke. Because, of course, he didn’t have medical insurance in Bangkok.
Fortunately for my dear friend, everything turned out well. They operated on him for over three hours on the same day, and the bill didn’t reach 200 euros. He continues training and kicking like he did in the past.
His case, however, is unusual. Bashayed speaks Thai very well and was surrounded by Thai friends. There was a good public hospital nearby, and that day, there were few emergencies. The strong local fighters he trained with took him there, and they all helped him out. But this is the example of someone who has been there for many years, has friends, and luck was on his side.
The case of another friend, in this case Moncho, was very different. He’d been here for a couple of months and his stomach started hurting, but he ignored it. A few hours passed and things got worse, and that night he went to the emergency room. He asked which hospital was closest and was recommended BNH Hospital in Silom, one of the expensive ones.
As soon as he arrived, they told him he had appendicitis and that it would be easy to fix. Two days later, he was as good as new and with 4,000 euros less in the bank. They did, however, give him a commemorative DVD containing the recording of his surgery and the removal of his appendix. A lovely souvenir.
We’ve given simple examples, but right now in Spain it’s known that if you fall into a coma, a hospital could ask for thousands of euros a day just to keep you alive. Therefore, travel insurance for Thailand that covers around 50,000 euros will be fine, as long as you’re not seriously ill.
For example: without insurance, a visit to the hospital due to flu usually costs between 40 and 90 euros, and a night’s stay in a good hospital starts at 140 euros a day. The problem is if there are complications.
Javi knows this well. He’s a big, stoic, and forward-thinking Basque lad. He drinks a lot of beer and can handle anything. But his heart played a trick on him in Pattaya, and he ended up on the verge of death at Bangkok Hospital, one of the country’s leading healthcare chains.
A month later, he recovered after excellent medical care. The insurance bill? Half a million euros. Fortunately, the policy he’d taken out covered that.
That’s why, as I mentioned at the beginning, I would always recommend good travel insurance for Thailand that covers at least that much in case things get really bad.
And of course, make sure it’s paid in advance so you don’t have to pay anything out of your own pocket- because I, for one, don’t have that half-million stashed under my mattress. I don’t even have a tenth of that!
From this point on, which hospital is the best choice? Well, if you have travel insurance for Thailand like the one we recommend from Iati, I’d say go with the one they assign you. They always choose one of the most expensive and prestigious options.
For example, if you’re near Thong Lor, they’ll usually send you to Samitivej, while if you’re staying in Asok, it’ll most likely be Bumrungrad. I’ve been to both, and they have absolutely everything you could need.
What’s more, they’re among the best hospitals in the world. And I’m not just saying that; they regularly win internationally recognized awards and are among the most sought-after worldwide for medical tourism.
In Thailand, private healthcare can be as good as it is luxurious, with waiting areas featuring grand pianos and five-star hospital rooms with gourmet restaurant menus and giant TVs that play Netflix.
Many people say that since travel insurance to Thailand covers all costs, there’s nothing to lose and that private Thai hospitals are better than public European ones. I disagree.
Thai healthcare is exceptional, and everything will be fine in these health centers. The issue is that, as businesses, their priority is to bill you first, and treat you second. They’ll never harm your well-being, but if there’s a way to charge you more, they absolutely will.
Sometimes they over-prescribe medication simply because you’re paying for it. In other cases, they request unnecessary tests just because your insurance will cover them.
For example, at Samitivej, I once told the doctor that my insurance had limitations on tests, and he admitted that the ones he had ordered weren’t really necessary.
‘I only requested them as an extra precaution, but I don’t actually need them to understand what’s going on. If you have to pay for them out of your own pocket, we can skip them.’ It was almost a thousand euros.
One last piece of advice: if disaster strikes and your travel insurance for Thailand isn’t able to cover large expenses, but you don’t feel comfortable relying on the public Thai healthcare system, what I would do is head to one of the two non-profit Christian-funded private hospitals.
It’s true that seeing a doctor covered in more crucifixes than a church is a bit off-putting, but these places are great if you want to save money. Mainly because they don’t inflate the cost of tests, and doctors don’t charge extra for your care. Plus, they usually speak English. The best one is St. Louis near Silom, but Camillian in Thong Lor is also good.
As a final piece of information I leave you other insurances to take into account, and with their due discount, in case you wish to compare:
