Thai national health insurance for foreigners

[Dannie Boy]

OK. What follows is my understanding.

Short story: If your name is in a yellow or blue tabien baan, and therefore you have a 13 digit Thai id number, you don't need this national health insurance for foreigners at Hua Hin Hospital. They give it to you free. Just go and register.

Long story:

I went back to Hua Hin Hospital today and spoke to a guy in the administration front office (counter number 1 just inside the front entrance). He read the Health Ministry Announcement and explained to me that the announcement uses the term "dtarng dao" (ต่างด้าว) which is usually no longer used for foreigners as a whole (it used to be) but now they take it to mean Lao, Burmese or Cambodian. Apparently the term "dtarng chart" (ต่างชาติ) is now preferred for other foreigners. I had thought the two terms were interchangeable - you learn something new every day.

However, as far as Hua Hin Hospital is concerned, we farangs don't necessarily need this insurance. If you have a yellow tabien baan (permanent residents have a blue one) with your name in it you can register at Hua Hin Hospital for the right to use the same 30 baht health care service as Thais (but with a small surcharge every time - 200 baht I think, but may be wrong). So, OK, I showed the guy my tabien baan and he showed me my hospital registration - I had previously gone there to see a doctor, and, as is usual in all hospitals here, had registered with the hospital and got a patient card. Looking back, I remember thinking how cheap it was.

As it happened, when I registered, I had only had my Thai drivers licence as id (rather than my passport) and this has my 13 digit Thai id number on it. Because of this my hospital registration includes the entitlement as: สิทธิเบิกงานประกันสุขภาพกระทรวงสาธารณสุข. Loosely translated this means "entitled to use public health ministry insurance".

So to summarise:

1. Hua Hin Hospital does not do the insurance scheme for foreign residents unless they're Lao, Burmese, Cambodian. At least, not yet.
2. If your name is in a yellow or blue tabien baan (which means you have a 13 digit Thai id number) you can register at Hua Hin Hospital and you get the same universal health care entitlement as Thais in the 30 baht scheme.
3. In order to use the public health entitlement (30 baht + a little bit more) you need to take passport and tabien baan, as well as hospital card, when using the service.
4. No 2,200 baht insurance fee and no 600 baht health check required.

I think acquiring a yellow tabien baan is covered in another thread.

Some additional information:
Hua Hin Hospital has an office for foreign patients, which, for an additional fee of 200 baht, provides an express service (queue avoidance) with the appropriate health professionals. This express service is also available for Thais for the same price. The 30 baht universal health care scheme does not cover this service and all costs and medicines are charged at the actual price. I haven't used this so don't know what it's like. However, when I was there last week, there were quite a few farangs being attended to and making new appointments. I didn't see any Thais using this service - possibly because they are unaware of it seeing as how the office is labelled foreigner service and check up centre.

If anyone needs more info about this they should go ask at the hospital.

Cheers

I'm sure there will be a number of grateful expats for your tenacity in following up on this hhinner, however I believe that the entitlement to register at the Hua Hin hospital only applies if you are resident within HH. I unfortunately live between HH and Cha Am, but have a Cha Am address in Petchaburi Province and therefore will not be eligible.

[hhinner]

Hi DB. Even with the insurance scheme as proposed in the OP you'd still need to be in the hospital catchment area. So maybe you'd be stuck with Cha-Am anyway.

[Dannie Boy]

Hi DB. Even with the insurance scheme as proposed in the OP you'd still need to be in the hospital catchment area. So maybe you'd be stuck with Cha-Am anyway.

Looks like I will have to pay for any treatment if I need it - the Govt hospital in Cha Am is very basic and even shunned by the locals!!

[hhinner]

You could go along and try registering at HH anyway. It may not be address based. You can only register at one hospital and it could be that lots of Thais register where they work and live rather than where their tabien baan says they live.

[old man]

Hi all my thai wife of many years had one of 30 baht cards but not in Hua Hin and let it lapse she say one may have to wait 2 hours just to get headache pills--not worth me getting one--I remember old yorkshire saying--u dont get out for nout --when someone get full details of benefits please post on here as she says not worth me going to check if thais not bother about card cant be alot of use as healthcare here a nightmare I hope she wrong

[Big Boy]

OK. What follows is my understanding.

Short story: If your name is in a yellow or blue tabien baan, and therefore you have a 13 digit Thai id number, you don't need this national health insurance for foreigners at Hua Hin Hospital. They give it to you free. Just go and register.

Long story:

I went back to Hua Hin Hospital today and spoke to a guy in the administration front office (counter number 1 just inside the front entrance). He read the Health Ministry Announcement and explained to me that the announcement uses the term "dtarng dao" (ต่างด้าว) which is usually no longer used for foreigners as a whole (it used to be) but now they take it to mean Lao, Burmese or Cambodian. Apparently the term "dtarng chart" (ต่างชาติ) is now preferred for other foreigners. I had thought the two terms were interchangeable - you learn something new every day.

However, as far as Hua Hin Hospital is concerned, we farangs don't necessarily need this insurance. If you have a yellow tabien baan (permanent residents have a blue one) with your name in it you can register at Hua Hin Hospital for the right to use the same 30 baht health care service as Thais (but with a small surcharge every time - 200 baht I think, but may be wrong). So, OK, I showed the guy my tabien baan and he showed me my hospital registration - I had previously gone there to see a doctor, and, as is usual in all hospitals here, had registered with the hospital and got a patient card. Looking back, I remember thinking how cheap it was.

As it happened, when I registered, I had only had my Thai drivers licence as id (rather than my passport) and this has my 13 digit Thai id number on it. Because of this my hospital registration includes the entitlement as: สิทธิเบิกงานประกันสุขภาพกระทรวงสาธารณสุข. Loosely translated this means "entitled to use public health ministry insurance".

So to summarise:

1. Hua Hin Hospital does not do the insurance scheme for foreign residents unless they're Lao, Burmese, Cambodian. At least, not yet.
2. If your name is in a yellow or blue tabien baan (which means you have a 13 digit Thai id number) you can register at Hua Hin Hospital and you get the same universal health care entitlement as Thais in the 30 baht scheme.
3. In order to use the public health entitlement (30 baht + a little bit more) you need to take passport and tabien baan, as well as hospital card, when using the service.
4. No 2,200 baht insurance fee and no 600 baht health check required.

I think acquiring a yellow tabien baan is covered in another thread.

Some additional information:
Hua Hin Hospital has an office for foreign patients, which, for an additional fee of 200 baht, provides an express service (queue avoidance) with the appropriate health professionals. This express service is also available for Thais for the same price. The 30 baht universal health care scheme does not cover this service and all costs and medicines are charged at the actual price. I haven't used this so don't know what it's like. However, when I was there last week, there were quite a few farangs being attended to and making new appointments. I didn't see any Thais using this service - possibly because they are unaware of it seeing as how the office is labelled foreigner service and check up centre.

If anyone needs more info about this they should go ask at the hospital.

Cheers

The above sounded very interesting, and I'm sure that I'm not the only one wanting to know how it actually worked out.

Has anybody tried this scheme, and actually tried to used for a medical problem? Did it work?

[old man]

Hi have friend who had card went there to get tablets after going for about 1 year staff knew him and ask him you take this permanently he say yes for rest of my life asks can you do cheaper then they say why you not find chemist in Hua Hin if you get from them it will be cheaper as we got to charge full price so he did and still saving a lot of baht-----

[Big Boy]

But surely, cardholders only pay 30 Baht per visit including all meds. Mrs BB had over 6,000 Bahts worth of meds plus examination and x-rays on her last visit for 30 Baht.

Or am I mistaken as to what this thread is suggesting?

[old man]

Hi thanks for reply the info i quoted was from European man lived here over 15 years and has 2 houses in his name and one card which he has not used for a number of years the drugs he uses are Indian copies of what he had to pay for at HH hospital but work just the same-could have used express service stated in previous post- I will see him again next week for more info-- may i ask at this time is your wife Thai--and has the scheme been updated over the years--I have Thai wife for over 15 years and she still says not all things covered for Thais--My Thai father-inlaw [owns house and land in Thailand]2 years ago needed cataract op which was paid for by all the family in a government hospital--my wife still say i waste my time but as she lived in UK over 10 years and let her card lapse many years ago so her info may be out of date so next week will check out HH hospital as per previous posts i qualify but will hope not to need any treatment
--PS no you were not mistaken what the thread was suggesting

[Big Boy]

I think you must be referring to the hospital card that every hospital seems to issue on you first visit. This would not entitle you to anything. This thread is about the Thai Health Service, which until this thread started I thought was just for Thais. With this scheme a Thai registers at their local hospital. Once registered, every visit to that hospital, regardless of treatment/medication will cost 30 Baht.

[Takiap]

I'm not sure how this whole hospital thing works, but what I do know is that I can take my kids to HH hospital any time of the day or night, and everything is free, regardless of what sort of treatment they require.

Also, as far as I know the 30 baht scheme only applies to Thais who are not officially employed. I'm sure my wife has told me in the past that if you're employed your employer has to provide medical aid, and I know for a fact hers does because she doesn't think twice about popping into Bangkok Hospital.

[hhinner]

Yes, working Thais (and farangs) are supposed to have social security cards which specify a hospital for their use under the national insurance scheme but availabilty may also depend on wage levels. There are still an awful lot of people outside that scheme though, for instance it doesn't cover dependants. Self employed people (e.g. food cart vendors) can opt in, but it's not compulsory AFIK. The national insurance is only useful for selected hospitals, usually, but not exclusively, state hospitals. Many companies also have private health insurance. When I was working I had a national insurance card and a selected hospital, which I never used because I was also covered by private company health insurance. Civil servants have a separate scheme.

As I explained in a previous post I'm registered at HH hospital and information in that post is either from my experience or what I was told by the hospital administration. If anyone uses the 30 baht scheme they will try to keep the costs way down to absolute minimum and prescribe cheapest drugs. A farang using the same service would also pay a farang surcharge.

Outpatients will normally go to reception on the left after the main entrance. This is where what level of treatment you get will be initially decided (e.g. got 30 baht card? insurance? cash?). Or use the express service.

There are also signs that indicate that people over 70 can jump the queue. Also those who have chest pains or trouble breathing.

There is an express service which is signposted in English as being for foreigners, but Thais can use it as well. But this is outside the 30 baht scheme (and probably also outside the social security scheme). All services including nursing, doctors, medicines have to be paid for at full rate. There is also an additional 200 baht fee. I think that this service must be paid for directly and there is no facility to have the hospital claim from insurance. For this service you go to the office on the right just before the lift lobby and stairway (if you use the main entrance).

It would sure be nice for someone with more direct experience to comment and correct any bad info.

[old man]

HI ALL -THIS SITE MYSTIFIES AND CONFUSES ME --WHY IT NOT FULL OF NONE THAI PASSPORT HOLDERS WHO HAVE HAD FULL TREATMENT FOR 30 BAHT WITH NO EXTRA COST--SOME INFO NOT MAKE SENSE --I TOOK DRIVING TESTS HERE AND ID NUMBER ON IT IS MY PASSPORT NUMBER SAME WITH 4 OTHER NONE THAI PASSPORT HOLDERS --THAI PASSPORT HOLDERS HAVE THEIR ID CARD NUMBER--ID NUMBERS CAN BE LOOKED AT BY CERTAIN GOVERNMENT WORKERS TO CHECK ALL YOUR DETAILS -IF MARRIED--WHERE LIVE-AND MORE--SO WILL ANY NONE THAI PASSPORT HOLDER WHO HAS HAD TREATMENT AT HH HOSPITAL FOR A TOTAL COST OF 30 BAHT[NO EXTRAS ]PLEASE POST HERE--PS DONT THINK SITE WILL OVERLOAD AND CRASH

[richard]

Mods, please move if appropriate topic covers this.

A friend of mine who has lived in Isaan (Khon Kaen province) many years (25+) recently sent me this. Anybody any experiences of obtaining and using this here in Hua hin?


> YES only 2,200 Baht p.a. for Medical Cover in Thailand
>
> Sorry the PDF is in Thai Language (typical,YES) but I am sure your spouse will be able to translate for you.
> Basically you go to your Local Government Hospital and ask for the Health card for Farangs, take a print out of this if you wish.
> Cost 2,200 baht p.a. plus 30 baht per visit, same as a Thai would pay. If you have to be transferred to your University Hospital (because local hospital hasn't got the necessary experience or equipment) this is covered by the package. You can pay an extra 600 baht at the same time for a medical check up if you wish but isn't compulsory. Please inform all your colleagues .


> http://www.tro.moph.go.th/download/Stra ... 1board.pdf

[usual suspect]

S'funny you're mentioning this you old trout..our Cycle-team were just this week discussing the plan at HH Hospital that is available for us.
The jist seems to be you go for a thorough medical, then sign up for their medical cover.
I was not listening to all the ins+outs the lads were explaining, but did hear an annual figure of 2,600B.
(I have no knowledge on if the extent your 'cover' relies on the outcome/results of the medical..??).