Transcript of the above video: 

As the title of this video suggests, we are talking about hospitals, hospital policy and whether or not they can impact Immigration matters here in Thailand. I thought of making this video after reading a recent article from the Pattaya Mail, that is pattayamail.com, the article is titled: Expat dream shattered in Thailand: Cockup, conspiracy or just plain nonsense? And hats off to Mr. Barry Kenyon, the author on this video. I know him; we've met personally in the past, had discourse regarding these subjects. This was a good write-up. I really appreciate also, you mentioned me specifically in there and was very complimentary, so thank you very much sir. I very much appreciate your accolades if you will. 

But that said, while I am talking here, it's probably a good time to mention the fact that look I am doing deeper analysis in long-form content with regard to all of these issues, this stuff that is swirling around out there in the world at large: geo-politics, economics the interplay between all of that; banking policies, the interplay between all of that and how it even impacts on a local level including Thai politics. I'm doing that through our long-form content in our paid news service, Integrity News Service. You can email us, [email protected] for information regarding that, and I'd be happy to let you in on that outlet for further deeper dive type of information. Also while I'm talking about it, I have opened a restaurant here in downtown Thailand. Pancake Palace for folks who are interested in American diner style food. Pancake Palace, the link is in the description below. We've got breakfast anytime including as the name suggests, pancakes and we also have other great American diner food like hamburgers, cheeseburgers, buffalo wings, chilli bowls, etc. Folks who are interested in American style food can check that out. 

That said back to the Pattaya Mail, quoting directly: "Hospitals can cancel your visa" ... and first of all let's do some context. Mr. Kenyon is actually talking about a video that was on YouTube that I actually responded to, where there was all of this seemingly AI generated, some of it was semi-useful but mostly it was a lot of hyperbole and nonsense about some grand conspiracy against expats, especially middle-income expats here in Thailand, and a lot of it again was not particularly useful. I did a rebuttal on it and basically explained my take, Mr. Kenyon is chiming in, and I urge those who are watching this video check out this article, Pattaya Mail, pattayamail.com, quoting again: "Hospitals can cancel your Visa: The problem of unpaid hospital bills has been a big issue for at least 20 years. But the idea that Thai hospitals can influence immigration to cancel your Visa or use data to track you down in other countries to force payment, is way beyond either their scope or their aspirations." 

Yeah, this is a great point. I brought this up actually in the description to the video that I made in response to that conspiracy theory video. Yeah look, reciprocal recognition of foreign judgments between Thailand and other jurisdictions is spotty at best. The notion that they are going to use some kind of long-arm tactic and reach out and grab you over unpaid hospital bills is kind of ludicrous. We've talked about this in the past. The whole issue of "unpaid" hospital bills is the primary reason for the insurance requirements associated with the Retirement Visa. And as I get into it another video made contemporaneously with this one, is there a possibility we could in the future see some sort of insurance requirement applied across the board to all Retirement Visas? I don't know. It's speculation to say it with certainty that it would be, but that said I have discussed this in the past and the O-A Retirement Visa requires Insurance while the O does not, maybe at some point in the future we may see something where insurance is required more across the board because there are concerns in Thailand regarding unpaid hospital bills. 

Now that said, quoting further: "Foreign Embassies in Bangkok continually remind their nationals that the lack of health insurance (unless you can access cash) is likely to see inpatient patients denied significant medical procedures." Yeah look, hospitals are now more aware of this. Quite frankly in the past you could argue maybe they were a little bit “naïve” insofar as they were treating folks and then they would bill them and then those people would run off. Another issue unfortunately was people would die here in Thailand, and they didn't have any way of recouping the bills. Again the notion they could reach out via some kind of long-arm jurisdiction or something, is really not in line with the reality of the situation. 

That said and the reason for the video, can hospitals directly impact Immigration? Not really. It's not like the Director of a hospital can get on the phone to immigration and say, “stop letting in these foreigners”. That's kind of ridiculous. That said they can have an indirect influence over time, and as we have discussed in prior videos, arguably their indirect influence directly led to the requirement of insurance associated with O-A visas for those looking to be here in the Kingdom of Thailand.