LymyVoyageThailand Public Hospital Prices Are Tiered by Nationality
Research & verification
We independently research information from publicly available sources. Claims are cross-checked against multiple sources where possible. When sources disagree, the disagreement is reported rather than resolved by assumption. LymyVoyage does not provide medical advice or make individual treatment recommendations.
LymyVoyage finding
Partially supported by the available data.
The four-band structure comes from two 2019 secondary accounts that label band 2 differently, and the rate examples are from 2019 reporting. The schedule now in force is a February 2025 Royal Gazette annex whose individual rates this article did not read.
Almost every guide to the cost of treatment in Thailand prices the private international hospitals. That is where the commissions are. It is also the wrong place to look if you want to know what Thailand has actually written down about charging foreigners.
The public system is where the rule lives. Thailand's Ministry of Public Health publishes a rate schedule for the hospitals it runs, and it publishes a separate one for foreigners. Your nationality and your visa are inputs to the price.
Thailand's health ministry publishes one hospital rate schedule for Thai citizens and another for foreigners. Your visa is an input to the price. By how much?
What the ministry publishes
The structure is not hidden, but it is not assembled anywhere either. A regional health office of the Ministry of Public Health lists the chain of documents: a Royal Gazette announcement of public health service rates for ministry service units dated B.E. 2562, then two separate manuals, one "for Thai citizens" and one "for foreigners".1
The 2019 announcement was promulgated on 28 June 2019. That date appears in the rate book Prasrimahabhodi Hospital publishes for its own staff. The hospital sits under the ministry's Department of Mental Health, and its book states that its rates conform to that announcement.2
A newer instrument has replaced it. The business daily Thansettakij reported that a fresh ministry announcement was published in the Royal Gazette on 10 February 2025, taking effect ninety days later.3 It directs service units to apply Schedule 1 for Thai people and Schedule 2 for foreigners.3
A provincial health office publishes that 2025 document as a single file running to several hundred pages.4
This article did not read individual rates out of that 2025 schedule. The figures below come from reporting on the 2019 version and from one hospital's own book. Read them as the shape of the ladder, not as today's prices.
How steep the ladder was in 2019
Two accounts describe four bands, and they do not label the second one identically.
| Band | Thaiger's description5 | AXA Global Healthcare's description6 |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Thai nationals | Thai nationals |
| 2 | Foreigners from neighbouring countries | ASEAN nationals |
| 3 | Working foreigners on non-immigrant visas | Expatriates on non-immigrant visas |
| 4 | Tourists and retirees | Tourists and retirees |
The Thaiger, reporting on 4 September 2019, gave two worked examples and said the split rates would start on 29 September. A test for human immunodeficiency virus cost 160 baht for a Thai patient, 240 baht for a working expatriate and 320 baht for a retiree or tourist. A spinal scan using magnetic resonance imaging cost a Thai patient 18,700 baht, a working expatriate 23,375 baht and a retiree or tourist 28,050 baht.5
Magnetic resonance imaging of the spine, as reported in September 2019 when the split rates began. One service on the 2019 schedule, not the 2025 one now in force, and the multiplier differs by service: on a virus test the top band was double the Thai rate rather than 50 percent above it.
Source: note 5
Show the numbers
| Item | Value |
|---|---|
| Thai patient | 18,700 baht |
| Working expatriate | 23,375 baht |
| Retiree or tourist | 28,050 baht |
Those two examples do not share a multiplier. On the virus test the top band is double the Thai rate. On the scan it is 50 percent above it. Dividing the published pairs is our arithmetic, and it shows the ladder is proportional within a service but not uniform across services.
AXA Global Healthcare describes the same four bands, writing for insurance intermediaries in November 2019 and updating the page in September 2025. Expatriates "will pay more for public healthcare services – up to double the costs charged to Thai nationals", it says.6 Those two examples bracket that ceiling.
One ministry hospital states it more simply than any of them. Prasrimahabhodi Hospital's rate book carries a note against its observation-bed charge: for foreign patients, calculate two times the service rate.2 That is a flat doubling at one hospital, not the four-band ladder.
What the headline numbers leave out
The ladder has an exit. Thailand's Ministry of Labour stated in February 2020 that foreigners working legally in Thailand have health coverage such as social security and health insurance. That protection sits under the same laws that apply to Thai workers.7 A work permit and social security contributions change which rules you are under.
A multiplier on a low number is still a low number. Nothing here says Thai public hospital care is expensive. Doubling 160 baht produces 320 baht. The schedule tells you how the price is set, not that the price is high.
The band labels disagree. One source calls band 2 foreigners from neighbouring countries. The other calls it ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) nationals.56 Those are not the same set, and nothing here resolves which the ministry wrote.
The sample is two services and one hospital. Two prices from 2019 reporting and one hospital's internal note are not the schedule. They are what could be read without opening it.
Public is not private. None of this applies to Bumrungrad-class private international hospitals, which set their own prices and are what the cost guides describe.
How to use these numbers
Ask the hospital which schedule you are being billed under before treatment, not after, and ask for it in writing. Your immigration status is what decides it, so bring the document that establishes it. A work permit and social security enrolment put you somewhere different from a tourist visa.
Then use the public rate as a floor to test a private quote against. If a private international hospital quotes several times the ministry's foreigner rate for the same scan, that gap is the thing to ask about. It may buy English-speaking staff, shorter waits and a nicer room. It should not be presented as the price of the procedure.
Footnotes
-
https://spbo3.moph.go.th/ket/?p=5505 — Health Region 3 Office, Ministry of Public Health (Thailand), page listing the Royal Gazette announcement on rates of public health services of service units under the Ministry of Public Health B.E. 2562, and the separate rate manuals for Thai citizens and for foreigners. Accessed Sep 23, 2026. ↩
-
https://www.prasri.go.th/download/servicerate.pdf — Prasrimahabhodi Hospital, Department of Mental Health, Ministry of Public Health (Thailand), "อัตราค่าบริการสาธารณสุข" (public health service rates), fiscal year B.E. 2566, citing the ministry announcement promulgated 28 June 2019. Accessed Sep 23, 2026. ↩ ↩2
-
https://www.thansettakij.com/health-wellness/health/619266 — Thawatchai Intrapradit, "สธ.ประกาศอัตราค่าบริการสาธารณสุขใหม่ อีก 90 วันมีผลบังคับใช้", Thansettakij (published 10 February 2025). Accessed Sep 23, 2026. ↩ ↩2
-
https://www.uckkpho.com/public-health-service-rates-2025/ — Khon Kaen Provincial Public Health Office, "อัตราค่าบริการสาธารณสุขของหน่วยบริการในสังกัดกระทรวงสาธารณสุข พ.ศ. 2568", publishing the 2025 rate document. Accessed Sep 23, 2026. ↩
-
https://thethaiger.com/hot-news/expats/foreigners-crying-foul-over-the-new-dual-pricing-policy-at-thai-public-hospitals — The Thaiger, "Foreigners crying foul over the new dual pricing policy at Thai public hospitals" (published 4 September 2019). Accessed Sep 23, 2026. ↩ ↩2 ↩3
-
https://www.axaglobalhealthcare.com/en/intermediaries/news/public-hospitals-in-thailand-charging-expats-higher-rates/ — AXA Global Healthcare, "Public hospitals in Thailand introducing tiered rates for expats" (published 4 November 2019, last updated 9 September 2025). Accessed Sep 23, 2026. ↩ ↩2 ↩3
-
https://www.mol.go.th/en/news/mol-clarifies-that-legal-foreign-workers-receive-equal-protection-welfare-and-insurance-as-thais — Ministry of Labour (Thailand), Division of Public Relations, "MOL Clarifies that Legal Foreign Workers Receive Equal Protection, Welfare and Insurance as Thais" (posted 4 February 2020). Accessed Sep 23, 2026. ↩
Evidence at a glanceMethodology
| Statement | Source | Tier | Date | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thailand's Ministry of Public Health publishes separate public-hospital rate manuals for Thai citizens and for foreigners, under its Royal Gazette announcement of service rates B.E. 2562 | Government health ministry regional office1 | 1 | 2019 | Supported |
| A new Ministry of Public Health announcement of public health service rates was published in Thailand's Royal Gazette on 10 February 2025, taking effect ninety days later, applying Schedule 1 to Thai people and Schedule 2 to foreigners | National business daily3 | 4 | 2025-02-10 | Approximate |
| Thai public hospital rates run in four bands by patient status, but the two sources describing them label the second band differently: foreigners from neighbouring countries, or nationals of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations | Regional news outlet5 | 4 | 2019-09-04 | Disputed |
| On 2019 reporting, a test for human immunodeficiency virus cost 160 baht for a Thai patient, 240 for a working expatriate and 320 for a retiree or tourist, and a spinal magnetic resonance imaging scan cost 18,700, 23,375 and 28,050 baht respectively, with split rates starting 29 September 2019 | Regional news outlet5 | 4 | 2019-09-04 | Approximate |
| On those two 2019 examples the top band is 2.0 times the Thai rate for the virus test and 1.5 times the Thai rate for the spinal scan, so the multiplier is proportional within a service but not uniform across services | Calculated by this publication Divided the reported retiree-and-tourist price by the reported Thai price for each of the two services (320/160 and 28,050/18,700). | 4 | -- | Approximate |
| One Ministry of Public Health hospital's published rate book instructs that for foreign patients the service rate is calculated at two times the listed rate | Government hospital published rate schedule2 | 1 | 2023 | Approximate |
| Thailand's Ministry of Labour states that foreigners working legally in Thailand have health coverage such as social security and health insurance under the same laws that apply to Thai workers | Government labour ministry statement7 | 1 | 2020-02-04 | Approximate |
