One publishes a price list. The other publishes a duty to tell you the price.
That sentence is the whole page, and it is the wrong way round from how people imagine it.
Thailand’s public hospitals work to a published tariff. The Ministry of Public Health publishes a manual of public health service rates for the service units under it, dated B.E. 2562 and now in a second printing, alongside a Royal Gazette announcement of those rates and the earlier B.E. 2560 schedule. A government hospital billing you is applying a document, not a judgement.
Thailand’s private hospitals have no tariff at all. What they have instead is a legal duty to tell you the price before you commit. Announcement No. 48 B.E. 2566 of the Central Committee on Prices of Goods and Services requires a private hospital to display drug prices and medical service charges via QR code, and to give you an estimate of the treatment cost against the initial diagnosis in writing.
So the question to ask changes depending on where you are standing. In a government hospital the price is a fact you can look up. In a private hospital the price is a document you are entitled to demand.
The side-by-side
| Public (Ministry of Public Health facilities) | Private hospitals | |
|---|---|---|
| Is there a published price schedule? | Yes - the MOPH rate manual for service units under the ministry, B.E. 2562, second printing, plus a Royal Gazette announcement of those rates | No. There is no official private tariff to look up |
| Is there a separate schedule for foreigners? | Yes - MOPH publishes two manuals, one for Thai people and a separate one for foreigners, both B.E. 2562, second printing | Not applicable - no schedule exists either way |
| Who sets the rates? | Set centrally. Reimbursement categories inside government facilities are set by the Comptroller General's Department - e.g. circular kor kor 0416.2 / wor 422 of 10 September B.E. 2563 covering category 8, diagnostic and therapeutic radiology | Each hospital sets its own, subject only to the disclosure rules in the next row |
| What is the legal price obligation? | Charge to the published schedule | Central Committee on Prices of Goods and Services announcement No. 48 B.E. 2566: display drug prices and service charges by QR code, and give a written estimate against the initial diagnosis |
| Can you take a prescription and buy the drugs elsewhere? | Not addressed by the rate documents we read | Yes - announcement 48 provides for an outpatient to request the prescription in writing and buy the medicines outside the hospital |
| Who enforces the price rules? | The ministry and the Comptroller General's Department, through the rate documents themselves | The Department of Internal Trade, Ministry of Commerce. Complaints line 1569 |
| Where does an employed foreigner fit? | Inside the social security system. The Social Security Act B.E. 2533 defines an employee at s.5 with no nationality condition, and s.54 lists sickness first among the Fund's seven benefits | Where you pay, or where your insurance pays, unless your policy has direct billing arranged |
| Actual baht amounts on this page | None - the rate files behind the ministry's listing were not obtainable on 7 September 2026 | None - there is no official figure to cite, and a scraped one has a shelf life of weeks |
Every entry above is from the Ministry of Public Health, the Comptroller General’s Department, the Ministry of Commerce or the Social Security Act itself, read on 7 September 2026. Neither column wins. They are regulated by different mechanisms, and the mechanism is what you use.
The two things to actually do, whichever you choose
Most healthcare comparisons end without telling you to do anything. These two are specific, they come straight out of announcement 48, and they cost nothing.
Ask for the written estimate. Not a verbal range at the desk — the document. A private hospital is required to provide an estimate of the treatment cost against its initial diagnosis in writing. Asking for it at admission rather than at discharge is the single largest difference between a bill you expected and one you did not.
Ask for the prescription. An outpatient may request the prescription in writing and buy the medicines outside the hospital. Whether that saves you anything on a given drug is your arithmetic to do, but the choice is yours to make and it is written into the announcement.
If a hospital refuses either, the Department of Internal Trade takes complaints on 1569. The Ministry of Commerce page we read states that legal action follows a breach; it does not state the penalty, so neither do we.
Where the two are the same
The half of a comparison that almost never gets written.
They are the same on the thing that matters most and is discussed least: both are inside a national price framework. Neither a government hospital nor a private one is free to charge whatever it likes without a rule attached. The rule is a tariff in one case and a disclosure duty in the other, but the idea that private Thai healthcare is unregulated on price is simply wrong.
They are also the same in an emergency, which is the situation this page is least useful for. The national emergency medical number is 1669, and the right hospital is the nearest one that can treat you.
And they are the same on insurance in one respect: whether your policy pays directly or reimburses you is a matter between you and your insurer, not a property of the hospital’s ownership.
What visa-linked cover has to include, and where direct billing tends to be arranged: health insurance in Thailand.
Who each suits
No winner here either. These suit different circumstances, and the honest job is to say which.
| A public hospital suits you if | A private hospital suits you if |
|---|---|
| You are employed in Thailand and inside the social security system, where a hospital is assigned to you | You are paying out of pocket or through insurance and want the cost fixed in writing before treatment starts |
| You want a cost you can check against a published schedule rather than negotiate | You need scheduling around work, or a specific specialist, more than you need a published rate |
| You are settled in one province and building a relationship with one facility | You move between cities or countries and need portable records and international billing |
| You would rather the price question be answered by a document than by a conversation | You are willing to trade a published tariff for a written estimate you obtain yourself |
| Your treatment is routine and the difference you are buying is mostly convenience | Your insurer has direct billing arranged somewhere specific and you want to use it |
City-level detail on where facilities actually are: healthcare and hospitals in Thailand, international hospitals in Bangkok, and Bangkok healthcare.
What we could not confirm, and are not going to invent
Five things a reader might reasonably expect here are missing on purpose.
Any baht figure at all. The Ministry of Public Health lists its rate manuals; the files behind that listing were not obtainable to us on 7 September 2026. Rather than print a number from memory or from a blog, this page states that the schedule exists and tells you where it lives.
The universal coverage rules. The National Health Security Office refused automated requests on the day, at both its Thai and English addresses. What that scheme requires of a person is therefore not stated on this page in any form.
The social security contribution rate and wage band. The Act itself puts both in Ministerial Regulations rather than in the Act, and those regulations were not obtained.
The penalty for a hospital that ignores announcement 48. The Ministry of Commerce page states that legal action follows; it does not give the fine.
Any claim about a named hospital. No waiting times, no quality ranking, no statement about which facilities speak English. None of that was verified here, so none of it appears.
Frequently asked questions
Yes, and this is the part people do not expect. The Ministry of Public Health publishes a manual of public health service rates for the service units under it, dated B.E. 2562 and in its second printing, alongside a Royal Gazette announcement of those rates and the earlier B.E. 2560 schedule. A government hospital is not improvising a number when it bills you - it is working to a published schedule. We read the ministry's own listing of those documents on 7 September 2026. We have not printed any of the rates themselves, because the files behind that listing were not obtainable to us on the day and a half-remembered tariff is worse than none.
The Ministry of Public Health publishes two manuals rather than one: a rate manual for Thai people, and a separate rate manual for foreigners, both B.E. 2562 and both in a second printing. So the answer is that a distinct foreigner schedule exists as a published document. We are stating the existence of the two documents, which is what we verified, and not the amounts in either - and you should expect the foreigner schedule to be the one applied to you at a government facility.
Yes, and it is not a favour. Central Committee on Prices of Goods and Services announcement No. 48 B.E. 2566 requires private hospitals to display drug prices and medical service charges through a QR code, and to provide an estimate of treatment costs against the initial diagnosis in writing. If a hospital will not give you the written estimate, that is the thing to press on, and the Department of Internal Trade takes complaints on 1569.
Under that same announcement an outpatient may ask for the prescription in writing and buy the medicines elsewhere rather than from the hospital pharmacy. It is one of the few pieces of Thai consumer regulation that puts a lever directly in a patient's hand, and almost nobody uses it because almost nobody is told it exists. Ask for the prescription.
If you are lawfully employed, you are very likely inside the social security system, and the Act does not turn on nationality. The Social Security Act B.E. 2533 defines an employee at section 5 as a person who agrees to work for an employer in return for wages, without any nationality condition, and section 54 lists the seven benefits the Fund provides - injury or sickness first among them. The practical consequence is that an employed foreigner is assigned a hospital under the scheme rather than paying cash at the counter. What we have not confirmed, because the National Health Security Office refused automated requests on 7 September 2026, is the separate question of the universal coverage scheme and what it requires of a person.
The nearest one that can treat you. This page is about how the two are priced and regulated, and none of that is worth a minute of delay in an emergency. The national emergency medical number is 1669. Sort out the billing question afterwards - and if you are on a visa that required health insurance, tell the hospital which policy you hold at admission rather than at discharge, because that is when it is easy to fix.
Choosing where to live around a hospital?
For a lot of people the healthcare question is really a location question — which district, which city, how far from an emergency department. Start there and the rest follows.
General information only, not medical, legal or financial advice. BAANLYY LLC is a Nevada company and a listing portal: it does not own, lease, manage or control any property listed on this site and is not a party to any lease or sale. Health service rates, price-disclosure rules and social security regulations change; confirm anything you intend to act on with the Ministry of Public Health, the Department of Internal Trade, the Social Security Office and the hospital itself. BAANLYY never takes paid placement in editorial content.
Sources
- Public health service rates for service units under the Ministry of Public Health - the B.E. 2562 manuals for Thai people and for foreigners, the Royal Gazette announcement, and the B.E. 2560 rates ↗Ministry of Public Health, Kingdom of Thailand · Accessed 7 September 2026
- Comptroller General's Department circular kor kor 0416.2 / wor 422 (10 September B.E. 2563) - public health service rates, category 8, diagnostic and therapeutic radiology ↗Comptroller General's Department, Ministry of Finance, hosted by the Ministry of Public Health · Accessed 7 September 2026
- Central Committee on Prices of Goods and Services announcement No. 48 B.E. 2566 - price display, written treatment estimates and outpatient prescriptions at private hospitals ↗Samut Prakan Provincial Commerce Office, Ministry of Commerce, Kingdom of Thailand · Accessed 7 September 2026
- Social Security Act B.E. 2533 (1990) - official English translation ↗Ministry of Labour, Kingdom of Thailand · Accessed 7 September 2026
Official primary sources are listed above with the date we last checked them. Thai rules, fees, thresholds and procedures change and can be applied differently by individual offices and embassies — confirm the current requirement with the responsible authority before relying on it. General information only, not legal, tax or medical advice. BAANLYY never takes paid placement in editorial content.