Best Hospitals in Bangkok Compared $ Insurance 

Nice. Glad you were taken care of for food poisoning. Never a fun thing. I went to the pharmacy and got it taken care of for 300 baht for some charcoal pills and dextrose powder lol. Curious what you’ll think of the sametivej or siriraj hospitals. They’re pretty nice too. I understand blue cross covers pretty much all the hospitals out here

I found out very few Blue Cross policies cover overseas hospital expenses. I had planned to switch policies to a cheaper Blue Cross plan and was told my new policy would only cover hospitals within their network which excludes all overseas hospitals. My policy is very expensive and most people have the basic plan. As long as I travel as much as I do I plan to keep the gold standard plan. Well over $1,000 a month, paid mostly by my company!

LIVE TRAVEL ASIA - Blue Cross Blue Shield has a program called Global Core. It will basically reimburse you for emergency services outside of US depending of ones particular benefits. To check it out and search for hospitals and clinics just use CPR at login. www.bcbsglobalcore.com/

Wow that’s pretty expensive. I had no idea. I just heard this from another blogger who has blue cross and just took his word for it

Wow all interesting experiences. I myself personally never had experiences with clinics but that’s a steal at 5 usd. For simple procedures like that they should be fine. My only experience has been getting medical certificates hehe. Which policy did you end up choosing for the 50k one? The one at klassikorn? A high limit plan w high deductible but w low premiums is something I haven’t seen. Can you recommend a policy?

@@livetravelasia I have two completely different policies. The Kasikorn accident insurance is just accident insurance. 50,000 coverage seemed about right based on my Chiang Mai experienced. It was very cheap. I am a 63 year retiree on a 1 year extension. My Thai policy is from Pacific Cross. They offer "large" deductibles and (good for me) they also meet the requirements for my yearly extension. My US policy was through the University of California pension system so it was both good and relatively inexpensive even by US standards. My PC policy is about $75/month cheaper though you have to pay the yearly premium up front. BTW the bank policy won't cover motorbike accidents but the PC policy will if you are wearing a helmet. Drive safely!

@@livetravelasia Pacific Cross offers policies with deductibles all the way up to 300kTHB deductible. If you do the quick quote, then select a policy, you can select options such as deductible, etc that lowers the price. Guaranteed Renewable. www.pacificcrosshealth.com/quote-en/

Ethan Mandel Thank you. I already have a PC policy.

Yeah I looked into the k max card and the payout was laughable at around a few hundred dollars per incident. Not sure if other banks offer something better. But for Thais w universal healthcare it may be a good option

Good info!

Welcome aboard! I am currently doing videos on Korea however cause foreign tourists are locked out of thailand at the moment and my girlfriend also got laid off from her job there. Either way, I am always trying to look for new experiences to show you guys from Asia so I hope you enjoy!

Yeah what you’re describing is called a deductible in the states. 800 is pretty high but 100 usd a month for a guaranteed renewable policy is pretty good

If I get an opportunity I will. There are some good things being said about the dental offices near asoke

Ditto!

100 usd is pretty good but she’s not very old. Curious if they guarantee renew and fix the premiums cause she’s starting younger? Highly doubt you’ll use 2 million a year either unless it’s cancer or something. I saw cancer only coverage that was even more affordable too from Allianz

Happy New Years btw!!!! Glad to see you back in the comments :)

@@livetravelasia Happy New Year to you too! .. I haven't seen all your new vids yet .. too busy with work, but me and my wife loved your Kanchanaburi vids (watched 2 of them). Great editing .. you are getting better and better. My wife wants to go to Kanchanaburi now heheh. .... As for premiums, it is 1000 usd not 100 usd .. and it gets more expensive as you get older. Yes 2mill baht a year is overkill, but is good to have peace of mind.

Thank you Fabe!

Haha 3 days for 1k and I am still thinking it’s expensive but when u compare to America it’s significantly better hehe. Healthcare in the states is just very overpriced and in my experience not much better. After half a dozen doctors that misdiagnosed me I finally ended up w a decent doctor from the memorial system that was good until my health insurance stopped covering for them and ended up having to do the search again. Typical American healthcare

@@livetravelasia When my wife 1st come to America I had to take her to a dermatologist. She was misdiagnosed as Stress for her break out. Her condition worsened over time.We finally came back to Thailand where they did a real Allergy test. She was very allergic to nickel. Think the test was somewhere around $30 there. In the US for no test it was hundreds of dollars for their vist.

I totally can empathize w this. Had similar experiences. It would be 50 bucks w insurance as a copay for me. I was misdiagnosed for stomach aches for sugary diets until I got to my 6 th doctor after years and he suggested it was a particular bacteria. Just when I was comfortable using him my insurance didn’t cover his clinic anymore and more money wasting

Good to know. I do hear Phraram 9 is generally all around a good option so I went with them as well. My buddy went in for a simple eye infection and saw a physician for 5 minutes and got some medicine prescribed and paid around 1500 so maybe they're giving you a better rate cause your gf works there

@@livetravelasia not really the doctor didn't know that. The rate is varied as hospital give the range of fee for each procedure and then allow doctor to determine the doctor fee for themselves within those range. From what I can tell, the range here is not too high. But for somewhere like Bangkok Hospital and Smitivej those "CAN" be crazy high.

Yeah definitely. I think bumrungrad is probably the highest from what expats tell me as well. But based on nurses and pharmaceutical sales agents I’ve met they tell me piyavate is. Surprised cause Bangkok hospital is right next door and better known. Idk how they stay in business than

Wow that's super insightful. I'd definitely try those places. I also think Bum is probably overpriced... Would only go if I was just visiting and didn't wanna bother. I really want to look into the govt hospital system particularly I hear the police and navy hospitals in BKK are great. Had no idea about the cancer center in Udon Thani but totally believe it.

Second Camillian, too. It's also one of the hospitals mostly recommended by Farang Girls in Bangkok Facebook Group.

@@ThaiWithSarah wow never heard of it until today. Will definitely check it out next time

@@livetravelasia Chula is another excellent hospital / teaching university, and extremely busy. Queue for registrations starts lining up pre sunrise. Wife had minor eye surgery there, @ 5000+ baht, and the Rutnin Eye hosp wanted 10X that for the same procedure.

I’ve hear many good things about Chula as well. If you don’t mind the wait I hear it’s top notch w the same doctors from Bangkok hospital etc

Yeah I am quite certain about the quality here but not only that the hospitals in Bangkok consistently rank in the top in the world. I wouldn’t go to any hospital but if quality is all you care about siriraj Bangkok bumrumgrad and sametivej are very good. And yeah all the top doctors go to the us not necessarily for board certification but for more advanced year long fellowship programs to learn particularly advanced techniques. I thought English to a couple who were preparing to do that and learnt through them how the system works here. They still work at govt hospitals too because the way Thailand has the system set up where they are forced to work them after graduation and they stay there part time after to provide free healthcare to their families. I am pretty confident they wouldn’t send their family to bad hospitals. They tell me the heads of the departments at the big hospitals in Bangkok are mostly serving in Bangkok hospital etc just to make money as well so that how I learnt it was relatively a waste of money to seek only the best hospital. For complex issues you’ll have them look after you anyways. Even the for the basic procedures the regular Thai doctors here are far more experienced than the us and they are forced to work regional hospitals after graduation and do an insane amount of procedures to support free healthcare here. It’s absurd how many eye operation on avg the doctor I taught did in a day. Around a dozen. Idk how that can even be done safely but when they work at private hospitals they focus on much fewer overpaying patients in theirs opinion so I am pretty sure they are good. I also recommend sticking to Bangkok if you want the best cause Bangkok only accepts the best doctors. Everyone wants to be stationed in Bangkok. Only the best are allowed back for the limited slots after they complete their stints in regional hospitals being overworked to basically pay back their free medical training. One of the reasons it’s cheap in Thailand is not because they are cheap but the govt has actively worked to promote this as a key industry so economies of scale as well as the ridiculously low pharmaceutical costs attribute to it. As well as little admin costs due to cheaper labor and abundance of workforce in that area. You’ll find most Bangkok hospitals actually employ RNS to do admin work cause there’s so many of them. They are quite selective too even for for that job as you’ll notice the prettiest nurses in Bangkok. Basically you are getting the cream of the crop in Bangkok in a country that specializes in healthcare and even more so in private hospitals. It’s why Thailand’s healthcare just generally ranks in top 10 whenever you see a world survey and America ranks around 30 something. America does have the most specialized hospitals but for avg joe Thailand is prob the best. That being said you’re in the Bay Area so if you know the right people and can afford them, you’re not lacking in care over there at all :). www.topmastersinhealthcare.com/30-most-technologically-advanced-hospitals-in-the-world/

Thank you so much for the comment

Yeah the private hospitals are the way to go. 450 must be the executive package right? Like w a ct scan and everything?

Yup, the full works. Takes just under a day. As good as St Luke’s in Manila but way cheaper. The nurses in Thailand are prettier too!

Had no idea ph is more expensive. I’ve heard Thailand is where the ph doctors come for their training from the doctors here

Glad you enjoyed it! Thank you!

For insurance those are max payouts per medical incident and I was stating monthly and annual premiums

These are just rough ideas. I’ll have to do a more in depth analysis of medical insurance but so far I am not convinced they are worth it from the information I’ve gotten so far. All the popular accident insurance is also not guaranteed renewable same as cancer as well which is a huge down side as well

@@livetravelasia ok, what do you mean by payout exactly? Payout as while you're covered they pay that out to you to cover medical costs? Or is it a payout you make that is discounted because you have insurance ? I'll watch again incase I've missed something you've said, sorry for the confusion

It’s what they payout to you when a covered event happens

So glad you found this oldie but goodie. Thank you for watching and the comment!

Bumrungrad is world class but there’s so many other great options as well. I don’t think there’s a bad private hospital in Bangkok. Just recently had to take my friend to the Rama 9 icu and he loved it. They also renovated and upgraded a lot there due to all the money they’re getting from Chinese tourist. I highly recommend it if you want a more price predictable experience but idk about the insurance…

@@livetravelasia unfortunately they’re the only ones where I don’t need to pay upfront for my pricey medicine

Absolutely!

Very good advice! Only problem is foreigners don’t have people to ask for advice on good doctors...

Normally doctor at private hospital are very skillful and famous doctor work at public hospital. I suggest that at first you should go to private hospital and if something is serious and will be very expensive you can ask you doctor where you can see he/she at public hospital. Doctor can help you make an appointment which will not be easy if you directly go to public hospital.

Yeah I am okay now but it’ll be an issue down the road. But I want a good plan w guaranteed renewability. Couldn’t afford anything in Thailand w the income I was making. One of the reasons I am considering basing myself out of another country

Bad health can come quickly is so true. My Vegan neighbor who was super healthy, did yoga every day, exercised, never smoked, etc, got lung cancer at 52 just out of the blue. Despite top treatment at MD Anderson, she died 12 months later. One never knows what tomorrow will bring, eh. Good to know ahead of time about the hospitals in Thailand because health care in the USA can easily bankrupt you. I go with my brother to Mexico for alot of my dental care because the dentist I have there is excellent and 1/5th the cost in USA. But i have friends who need more complex stuff like implants and dentures so i am checking out things for them other places like Thailand since they are well-known for top notch dental treatment. In fact, the heads of many dental school in USA were all trained in Thailand!

Good experience?

I looked into it and honestly Thailand is a tourist trap for medical. Double pricing for everything... this is one of the main reasons I am basing myself out of Korea instead now but still keeping my condo in Bangkok

Glad you enjoyed it!

Honestly for cosmetic procedures I'd fly over to Korea and get it done... I highly don't recommend many of the clinics. Search Plastic surgery procedures gone wrong in Thailand. Either stick to the big hospitals I mentioned for emergency or fly to Korea if you can. I get my medical done in Korea

Try the ones mentioned in the video such as aia and I’d use that as a base to compare other policies :)

Check out Pacific Cross: www.pacificcrosshealth.com/ Lots of deductible options. Guaranteed Renewable. They also offer Community ratings if you develop a health issue later.

Any of them would prob be just as good but the one in phrom phong I think simetiveg or something I didn’t cover in this video specializes in children and birth I believe

@@livetravelasia thank you

Pollution is bad but korea is actually worst in that respect :(

@@livetravelasia Is it? Wow, didn´t know that. Probably we are blessed with good air quality in Europe..

Generally first world countries don’t necessarily have good air quality... some of the most modern cities in the Middle East are notorious for having even worst air quality than even Beijing. Checkout the air quality index sites. This is because a lot of air quality factors are not man made

Stay at your country, dont come here

@@kookkaimaesuai funny that someone feels offended by air quality index

great