British woman, 64, stranded in Thai hospital unless she can pay 450,000 THB for treatment

[webfact]

British woman, 64, stranded in Thai hospital unless she can pay 450,000 THB for treatment

 

 

A British woman who fell ill on holiday in Thailand is stranded in hospital after her medical expenses ran into hundreds of thousands of baht.

 

Barbara Jackson, 64, from Essex, is seriously ill in Camillian Hospital in Bangkok where she needs urgent treatment for a heart condition.

 

Barbara had been on holiday visiting her son who lives in Thailand when without warning she suddenly became ill.

 

After being rushed to hospital it was discovered she required heart surgery.

 

Because Barbara was only visiting Thailand for a short holiday, she did not take out insurance for her trip.

 

While the cost of her operation has been paid for, a further 450,000 baht is needed to pay for   additional treatment and medical care.

 

Now her family and friends have launched a crowdfunding campaign on the Go Fund Me website to raise the additional money so Barabara can receive the treatment she desperately needs.

 

“Barbara has been taken ill while in Thailand and requires immediate heart surgery to survive. Unfortunately, the cost for this essential operation is extremely high and so we are raising funds to help cover the additional expenses”, the Go Fund Me page reads.

 

“She is currently ready to undergo her operation, however, upon completion of her heart surgery she will receive a hefty bill which is only partly covered. We need to raise an additional 450,000 Thai Baht (just over £10,000 GBP) to assist with the cost of her operation, the page adds.

 

Barbara's Go Fund Me page can be found here.

 

 

-- © Copyright Thai Visa News 2019-01-30

 

[Briggsy]

Go fund me.      x

 

Loan.   

 

All those friends and family and nobody is prepared to loan this woman £10,000 instead they go to the local paper to assist in begging money from strangers. I understand that many Brits, used to the welfare state, travel abroad without insurance and expect others to pick up the tab but I don't have to like it. My mother is 86, regularly travels abroad and arranges insurance every time, which she has never used.  

[holy cow cm]

Cheap heart surgery

 

[Nielsk]

 

No matter how sad it is:

Going abroad without an insurance is like jumping from 10th floor and think they will survive.

Some never learn !

[ignis]

3 minutes ago, holy cow cm said:

Cheap heart surgery

 

??  It say's  ''While the cost of her operation has been paid for, a further 450,000 baht is needed to pay for   additional treatment and medical care.''

[RotBenz8888]

19 minutes ago, webfact said:

Because Barbara was only visiting Thailand for a short holiday, she did not take out insurance for her trip.

Heard that one before....

 

Hope she recovers.

[VocalNeal]

A friend of mine had a triple bypass at Chula Teaching Hospital. 180,000 baht. So why the 450,000?

 

Go to a different hospital.

[FritsSikkink]

4 minutes ago, VocalNeal said:

A friend of mine had a triple bypass at Chula Teaching Hospital. 180,000 baht. So why the 450,000?

 

Go to a different hospital.

They have no insurance, no money but do want to stay in a private hospital and try to get others pay for it.

[canopus1969]

Her son lives in Thailand - he's equally as stupid for not making sure his mum had insurance

[Briggsy]

7 minutes ago, VocalNeal said:

A friend of mine had a triple bypass at Chula Teaching Hospital. 180,000 baht. So why the 450,000?

 

Go to a different hospital.

Once these people have decided to go down the begging route, they often use the "in for a penny, in for a pound" rule and bung on another few £ '000 for "expenses", if you know what I mean.

[shackleton]

Its all been said before about people not having enough Medical  Insurance cover or None at all

 and no doubt we will be reading about the same subject in the near future 

Good job there are generous people who contribute  to the Go Fund Me 

[The Stranger]

3 minutes ago, canopus1969 said:

Her son lives in Thailand - he's equally as stupid for not making sure his mum had insurance

You are damn right, this is the first thing I advice people I care of to do, when they come visiting me.
I know I could sound very cynical but, it is always the same story, folks think that nothing's gonna happen to them and that insurances are a waste of money. The fact that she is here just for a short staying is totally irrelevant. BTW Thailand should ascertain that tourists have a travel insurance before entering the Kingdom, this story went too far.

[darksidedog]

This situation with crowd funding is getting ridiculous. It seems almost every day there is another one. Do people who come here check nothing about where they are going before they jump on a plane. Traveling anywhere overseas, especially Thailand, without good insurance is stupid and plain wrong.

[holy cow cm]

33 minutes ago, ignis said:

??  It say's  ''While the cost of her operation has been paid for, a further 450,000 baht is needed to pay for   additional treatment and medical care.''

just what I said. cheap heart surgery. 1 million 

[mercman24]

its not that they want to stay in a private hospital, they are generally taken there by taxi drivers who are in cahoots with the hospital and get a kickback, most tourists do not know of this, my friend, got taken to Pattaya Bangkok Hospital, despite me telling him otherwise. (thats where you end up if you go by taxi), he was cajold by the staff to stay in a private room. it was *oh you dont want to stay in a general ward with the riff raff basically. ok room very nice a bed where a guest could stay fridge etc, but he did not need any of these things, his 3 days cost his insurance company a fortune. i think they see you have health insurance and the bill gets doubled, just scammers, like everything in this country, for instance the 180,000 for a triple bypass. was the realistic bill, i bet that would be near a million anywhere else. still the UK is no different, when they hear BUPA their eyes light up, my knee scan years ago was double the normal rate

[holy cow cm]

Just now, holy cow cm said:

just what I said. cheap heart surgery. 1 million 

But from just reading more, I gather depending where you go it gets really affordable and low. Yikes, the hospital is also name camillian. 5555 

[from the home of CC]

If people decide to go the no insurance route when vacationing they should go for a medical check prior to travelling. This condition might have been flagged saving her a load of issues.

[neeray]

10 minutes ago, darksidedog said:

This situation with crowd funding is getting ridiculous. It seems almost every day there is another one. Do people who come here check nothing about where they are going before they jump on a plane. Traveling anywhere overseas, especially Thailand, without good insurance is stupid and plain wrong.

No, they don't check. But they do make sure friends and family have GoFundMe in their contact list, even on speed dial.

[stanleycoin]

Hope you get well soon

 

But your not a teenager, you are 64 years old.

So no excuse for not having correct insurance.

And Son is idiot,  not checking on mum and making sure she had it.

 

Good luck with the crowd fund.

But i won't be giving. 

[geriatrickid]

5 minutes ago, mercman24 said:

its not that they want to stay in a private hospital, they are generally taken there by taxi drivers who are in cahoots with the hospital and get a kickback, most tourists do not know of this, my friend, got taken to Pattaya Bangkok Hospital, despite me telling him otherwise. (thats where you end up if you go by taxi), he was cajold by the staff to stay in a private room. it was *oh you dont want to stay in a general ward with the riff raff basically. ok room very nice a bed where a guest could stay fridge etc, but he did not need any of these things, his 3 days cost his insurance company a fortune. i think they see you have health insurance and the bill gets doubled, just scammers, like everything in this country, for instance the 180,000 for a triple bypass. was the realistic bill, i bet that would be near a million anywhere else. still the UK is no different, when they hear BUPA their eyes light up, my knee scan years ago was double the normal rate

Rubbish.  Do you really expect us to accept that an insurer will just pay a bill as presented? Insurers all have a set list price for procedures, medical devices and drugs. They also have agreements  with hospitals. A hospital can present an invoice for 1000baht, but if the health insurer cross checks against its industry association or internal cost lists and sees that it should be 500 baht, well, the hospital will only get 500 baht.  That's the beauty of  health insurance:The insurer  verifies the charges  and the costs.

The classic example of this is dental coverage on a group health plan. The insurer pays a maximum for specified procedures and surprise surprise, dentists do not charge more than that when a patient is covered by  a health insurance plan (from a known, reputable insurer.)

[mania]

18 minutes ago, darksidedog said:

This situation with crowd funding is getting ridiculous. It seems almost every day there is another one. Do people who come here check nothing about where they are going before they jump on a plane. Traveling anywhere overseas, especially Thailand, without good insurance is stupid and plain wrong.

 

+1 & even worse some folks actually move to live in a foreign country without insurance

Always thinking if something happens I can always fly to my home country for repairs ????

 

You can be sure Thai immigration is taking note of all of these go fund me deals because as you said it is near daily now.

[wgdanson]

9 minutes ago, stanleycoin said:

Hope you get well soon

 

But your not a teenager, you are 64 years old.

So no excuse for not having correct insurance.

And Son is idiot,  not checking on mum and making sure she had it.

 

Good luck with the crowd fund.

But i won't be giving. 

Nor shall I, I spent my spare cash on Health Insurance.

[Sheryl]

She's lucky she was taken to Camillian which is non-profit (though still more expensive than a government hospital).

 

Not getting insurance because it was a short trip is ridiculous.

 

[stanleycoin]

35 minutes ago, shackleton said:

Its all been said before about people not having enough Medical  Insurance cover or None at all

 and no doubt we will be reading about the same subject in the near future 

Good job there are generous people who contribute  to the Go Fund Me 

How much are you donating ?

 

[crickets]

Thailand needs to have compulsory health care for visitors to stop this kinda stuff happening. Extra 1000 to 2000 a month for anyone coming going into an emergency fund.

[theoldgit]

webfact said:

 

Because Barbara was only visiting Thailand for a short holiday, she did not take out insurance for her trip.

Four years ago my girlfriend, now wife, and I went to Singapore for the weekend, on the day of departure she asked me if I'd brought insurance, which I'd forgotten to do, we brought online for 800 Baht each.
On our second of three nights there I had a massive heart attack and was rushed to hospital where I was resusitated, I had surgery and spent a week in ICU and a further week on a general ward, and we then stayed with friends there until I was given the all clear to fly home, a couple of weeks later.

My girlfriend had to pay a deposit of SGD5,000 whilst I was being resuscitated, which she paid with her credit card, they weren't going to let me die, and on my discharge I was presented with a final bill for another SGD25,000, and whilst I was insured most Thai insurers require that the bill is paid by the insured and claimed back on return, ours was one of those insurers, we were able to pay it and most of the bill was refunded on our return to Thailand.

I would always take out insurance however short the trip is.  

[stanleycoin]

9 minutes ago, crickets said:

Thailand needs to have compulsory health care for visitors to stop this kinda stuff happening. Extra 1000 to 2000 a month for anyone coming going into an emergency fund.

I don't think it will stop it.

as what will they do with people pissed up involved in accidents on the roads, maybe insurance will say, no pay he was pissed up. then what will happen,

Go fund me time.

[Oziex1]

57 minutes ago, Nielsk said:

 

No matter how sad it is:

Going abroad without an insurance is like jumping from 10th floor and think they will survive.

Some never learn !

Please understand , pre existing conditions are not covered even if she had no knowledge of the condition the insurance company will make a case of it.

 

I have high blood pressure that is effectively controlled by medication but so what, I can have my travel policies reviewed by Dr's appointed by the insurance company, no doubt this would raise the premium and still it is highly unlikely for me to be covered should I have a heart attack.

As cleverly explained to me by the lady who sold my last travel policy. My priority was, am I covered if I have an accident while riding a scooter.

[samsensam]

 

for sure her son should have insisted she had travel insurance - i do for my mum!

 

Because Barbara was only visiting Thailand for a short holiday, she did not take out insurance for her trip.

 

eight days cover including 5,000,000 GBP medical would cost less than 25 GBP.

[sammieuk1]

Welcome to Thailand where the Hippocratic oath is means tested before you receive life saving surgery not after ????