Just to end on this topic, Thailand is a country where you can negotiate almost everything. if you can bargain at hospital imagine where else you can, lol. Most people who commented lack experience and use google as their source. I knew your story would end well if you stood your ground. I mean, you can literally get away with murder if you have 500k to 1M baht to pay the family of the victim. I am not joking.

@Ahmed *******

You did the right thing. Years ago I crossed Cambodia (Poipet) by land with my 5 dogs and they try to charge me $600 for bogus health test for my dogs. So your $600 reminded me of that. I stood my ground for an hour and involved the Thai side of the border. At one point they said fuck it and let me pass. I was with my Thai GF which helped, but I was not gonna pay that without a fight.

If you have been here for so long how come you were dead wrong on this one? You are giving false information to OP who is in a stressful situation. You said "The police will definitely be involved", you were factually incorrect. The police almost never get involved in such cases because hospitals are "bluffing" and in there to extract money from foreigners who are too tired to stand their ground. OP won a tough battle without paying what was ask, you were wrong. Speak from experience please and not what you read somewhere.

@Steven *********

Factually incorrect, OP stood his ground and won. The cops never got involved even after the hospital threatened to do so and OP said `go ahead``. Stop getting your info from google.

@Peter ********

Factually incorrect, OP stood his ground and won. Speak from experience, not google research.

@Dan *********

Factually incorrect, as updated by OP, he stood his ground and won, police never came. The hospital was `bluffing` as always.

@Paulie ********

This post didn't age well. OP stood his ground and won. Stop playing the guessing game went you lack knowledge and most importantly, experience, in being in similar situations.

@Julie **********

Please stop "guessing" based on what you think. This isn't a guessing game, it's real life. I've been here since 2010 and have had many similar scammy encounters with Thai hospitals. You don't have to pay the scam and the police will very rarely be involved. In OP's case (as updated by him), they threatened to call the police but never did. It's almost always a bluff. If you stand your ground you are leaving the hospital without paying every time, as it happen to me many times. The price should NEVER be above what was mentioned at the beginning.

OP ended up paying 33.3% of the $600 ($200), after negotiating because his insurance refused to pay. He could have gone away with $0 if he had argue further, but whats the point?

@Craig *******

This is factually incorrect. You can refuse what they "choose", which will often be the most expensive option. The staff who told

@Ahmed *******

that insurance was covering it had no freaking clue, they just wanted the foreigner money. I've been here since 2010, I know how Thai hospitals operate. Ahmed did the right thing by standing his ground, as I told him to do so yesterday. He paid $200 extra to not argue anymore, with more pushing it would have been $0 extra. Next time, you need to stand your ground much earlier in the process (the second you test positive).