What do you wish you'd asked the hospital before paying anything?

#1Margaret F(Joined Mar 2026 · 4 posts)April 14, 2026, 10:26 am

I have quotes from two Bangkok hospitals for a knee replacement and they're further apart in price than I expected, about 40% between them for what reads like the same operation. Both want a deposit within two weeks to hold a surgery date in July, and both video calls were friendly, professional, and over before I'd got through half my list.

I'm 63 and this would be my first operation anywhere, let alone nine hours from home. So for those of you who've actually done this: what did you ask before you paid? And more usefully, what do you WISH you'd asked?

#2Alan G(Joined Jun 2024 · 34 posts)April 15, 2026, 8:03 am

Shoulder surgery, March last year. Things I asked and am glad I did: is the surgeon I spoke to the one holding the knife, what exactly does the quote cover (mine itemised the anaesthetist, the implant, two nights on the ward, and the follow-up scan, which it turned out one of my other quotes did not), and what the revision policy is if something isn't right.

The one I asked at the very last minute, almost as an afterthought: how many of my specific operation does this surgeon personally do in a year. The answer was reassuring, but I got lucky. That should have been question one, not question nineteen.

On the price gap, make them itemise. A 40% difference usually lives in the small print, not the surgery.

#3petem1970(Joined Aug 2025 · 7 posts)April 16, 2026, 9:47 pm

Ask what happens if they find something mid-treatment that changes the plan. My dental work turned into two extra visits nobody had priced, all legitimate, but the first quote quietly assumed the best case and nobody said so out loud.

#4bkk_bound(Joined Sep 2025 · 12 posts)April 18, 2026, 1:12 pm

The question that ended up deciding it for me: once I'm home, who reads my scans and will the surgeon actually answer an email? One hospital had an immediate, specific answer, named the process, told me the usual response time. The other said "of course, no problem" and moved on. That difference told me more than either brochure did.

#5Daniel MarshAdmin(Joined Feb 2024 · 246 posts)April 20, 2026, 9:35 am

This thread is a good checklist forming in real time, so I'll add the pattern I've seen over the years here rather than repeat anyone.

The people who end up unhappy almost never got a bad surgeon. They got a mismatch between what they assumed was included and what was actually written down. So: everything in writing before money moves. Named surgeon, itemised quote, what a complication would cost and where it would be treated, and how follow-up works from your side of the ocean. A good hospital answers all of that without flinching, and a hospital that flinches has just saved you a long-haul flight.

The site has a full worked list in vetting a surgeon from abroad, and the warning signs that should end a conversation are in red flags and how to avoid them. Margaret, on the deposit deadline specifically: a hospital worth flying to does not evaporate in two weeks. Pressure to pay before your questions run out is an answer in itself.

#6Margaret F(Joined Mar 2026 · 4 posts)May 6, 2026, 4:58 pm

Thank you all, genuinely. I've asked both hospitals for itemised quotes and a second video call, and this time the list goes in front of me on paper. One has already come back with the itemisation, the other has gone a bit quiet, which I suppose is also information. Will see how the second calls go before anything gets paid.