Why in Thailand they have so much unpaid hospital bills from foreign tourists. I can tell about one case why that is happening.

About a few months ago me and my girlfriend went for a 2 week holiday to Phuket in the south of Thailand. We had a amazing time the first week and explored a few out-of-the-area sightseeing with organized tours.

The second week of our holiday we got the idea to revisit a few locations that we had visited by the organized tours so we talked to our hotel and the front desk manager introduced us to a person who could rent us a motorcycle. Nothing fancy, a so-called step-through and only 110cc, a contract was signed and we did everything to make sure all was legal even asked for insurance etc… The person who rented us the scooter was named Boy and he even had some good motorcycle helmets.

To make the story a bit shorter, on the 4th day we went to see a nice beach location people said we should visit before going home. I was actually not that far, we found that the little motorcycle was easy to control had enough performance to take us both at a reasonable speed.

Said to say on that trip we met a big pickup truck who on the road we where riding instinctively moved to the side of the road to avoid hitting a touring bus that was driving why to fast. The result was that the pickup-truck hit us and we did a tumble at the side of the road. The pickup-truck driver stopped and helped us, but it became very early clear that my right leg was broken…

My girlfriend, who talked to Boy – the person who rented us the motorcycle, called him and in less than 15 minutes he was at the scene with a few friends. I was first scared that it would turn into a fight, but the who situation cooled down very quickly. The police was called and they also pretty quickly, maybe the pickup driver called them first…

Anyway, the pickup-truck was the fault of the accident and his insurance would pay for the motorcycle damage and my hospital bill.

The trip to the hospital was a bit strange, but I got there… In a Thai hospital you surely not have to complain about the service. Mr. Boy the guy who rented us the motorcycle came to visit me and told me that I have nothing to worry the insurance of the pickup driver would cover all expense, he not even paid back our deposited minus 2 days rent and even asked if that was okay.

My girlfriend contacted our travel insurance and we got a email back that the insurance we had didn’t cover the actual motorcycle accident… That we knew, but they arranged the transport to the airport and our trip home one day before our regular flight.

A few months later back in Germany we got an email from Mr. Boy that the hospital wanted him to pay for the hospital bill as we left the hospital without paying. The truth is that the insurance of the pickup driver refused to pay for the hospital bill as the insurance said they had not enough evidence that we had been riding the motorcycle. We send a few letters and even picture from my girlfriend’s mobile phone taken at the accident scene.

After we send the pictures to the local police station, hospital and the insurance company of the pickup driver we never hear what happened. The hospital stopped calling Mr. Boy, but he said that is no guarantee that the hospital bill is paid.