Tuesday, September 11, 2012

It Never Fails!

Whenever Kevin is out of town on a business trip, we always seem to have some kind of an "incident" (and usually not a good one). This trip was no exception. Kevin left for the U.S. Sunday morning and this is what we were looking at Monday morning...
During baseball practice Sunday afternoon, Christopher caught for one of the older boys on their travel team. The 70+ mph pitches eventually took their toll. Fortunately, his thumb is just sprained and he has a badly bruised bone around his knuckle/joint. We hope that resting it for 7-10 days with no sports/activity will heal it up just fine. Christopher is determined to make it to adulthood without having a broken bone so his "record" is still intact. Can anyone tell me why boys consider everything as being a competition?

I was a little apprehensive about having him treated at the local Thai hospital but it wasn't all that much different from a hospital in the U.S. The doctor, nurses and x-ray technicians all spoke very good English and, while not incredibly fancy or high-tech, the facilities were clean and the registration/treatment process was smooth and relatively fast. We were in and out in about 1 1/2 hours. The incredibly low cost of medical treatment, supplies and medication here never ceases to amaze me. This is the detail from my invoice:

Medication                       192 TB ($6.40 USD)
Medical Supplies             185 TB ($6.15 USD)
X-Ray                                350 TB ($11.70 USD)
Nursing Charge                  50 TB ($1.65 USD)
Other Medical Charge     30 TB ($1.00 USD)
Doctor Fee                       300 TB ($10.00 USD)
Physician Procedures   600 TB ($20.00 USD)
Grand Total                   1,707 TB ($56.90 USD)

Fortunately, we haven't had the need to be in an ER in the U.S. in many years so I can't accurately compare costs.  However, I imagine that a bill for comparable services performed in the U.S. would be significantly more.  

I am on a daily dosage of medicine to treat Hashimoto's Disease and, in the US, I paid $12.00 (after insurance) for a 30 day supply of Synthyroid. Here in Thailand, I buy a 100 day supply for $6.00 USD. It almost isn't worth the effort to complete the required paperwork and submit it to our insurance company to get a few pennies reimbursed to us. 

Have a great Tuesday!

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