Reader question: Is a Thai who works insured for health costs?

Many Thai people do not have a regular permanent job and are therefore not insured through their work, through the so-called Social Security. Through this Social Security for which you pay a monthly premium that depends on your salary and is deducted from it by the employer, you will receive a card, but with that you can only go to 1 hospital (and not all hospitals, e.g. not the private ones). With all others you have to pay the bill. You can change hospitals once a year if, for example, you move or are dissatisfied. So if you want to deviate from the name on your card, as my neighbors did when they gave birth to their second daughter, you pay the bills yourself.
In addition, the Thai people can get a kind of health insurance card in case they are not insured through their work. But here too, this card is only valid for 1 hospital, which is a hospital close to the place where you are registered as a resident. My impression in my own environment is that hardly any Thai has such a card, especially because almost everyone is not registered in Bangkok but still in the old place of residence, often in Isan. Consequence: people do not go back to the old place of residence where they came from, but in some cases go to a hospital in Bangkok and pay the bill…or someone else pays the bill, as in your case.

Just like Chris already wrote, most people in the village where I stay don't have extra health insurance either.
Most, and there are a huge number in Thailand, live on occasional jobs, and are mainly cared for through the so-called 30 Baht scheme.
A scheme that they usually receive in the nearest hospital to their place of residence, and which is in no way comparable, as most of us know from Europe.
There will certainly be differences in state hospitals, but the hospital that I recently visited because of my mother-in-law here in the village spoke volumes for me.
We had to deliver her very early on Saturday morning with severe pain in her entire body to the relevant hospital, where she was the first to hear that no Doctor was present for Weekends, and she had to persevere until Monday when the Doctor was back in the house.
The ward was filthy, the floor still showing old bloodstains from former patients, and the walls hadn't seen a lick of paint in at least 20 years, considering the filth.
Without exaggeration I have already visited dog clinics in Europe, which gave a better impression in terms of beauty and equipment.
Things looked different in the private Sriborin Hospital in the city of Chiangrai, where people with money seem to be well taken care of.
The only thing that disturbed me here is the perhaps unavoidable commercial hassle, that people were presented with the status of the provisional account every day, that not well-insured people may not get along.
If there is a lack of money, so that the daily balance of the bill presented can no longer be paid, the treatment is immediately discontinued, and either remains at home, or again grauen the local state hospital as an option.
I would like to invite someone who is chronically complaining about his healthcare in Europe and thinks I'm exaggerating a bit to take a look here.
For someone who really has the plan to settle permanently in Thailand, a good health insurance is indispensable.

it is indeed the case that in Thailand, one can go to a hospital, in the place of residence or close to the place of residence
many medicines are at their own expense and the family has to provide food.

I know someone who is in a hospital in Bangkok, she has to pay for herself, but went to Isaan to have an operation there for free, but then after the operation still goes to the hospital in Bangkok for medication, there at 6 o'clock in the morning goes and somewhere around 11 to come and indeed for the sum of 2000 baht excluding medicine costs.
That can make me very sad, but that's how the system works, I collect medicines here in the Netherlands
that I send to Thailand I know it's not legal but it's a Band-Aid on a big wound.

After I stopped working in TH for a multinational, I also continued my social security myself ad 432,00 thb per month. I am registered with a private hospital, some private hospitals also accept social security clients.
The registration to my name was quite cumbersome and was not understood in the place where I live, but after many calls to Bangkok I finally got the card
Since a month I have been working again on a 6 month contract with a multinational and I have chosen to continue to pay for the SS myself to avoid the whole fuss of the application again

The SS card via the employer also entitles you to a WW-like benefit, of course, according to Thai legislation, a negligible sum for expats. So I can't use this service
But of other matters such as benefits upon the death of myself (for my partner) and a payment when I stop working, kind of AOW, also not a lot of money, but cumulatively it can still be a nice sum because I already have a number of worked for years.

You can register the SS card according to your own preference. In the companies where I worked, the worker always had a choice of 2/3 hospitals in the vicinity of the factory, also for accidents, but I myself registered my place of residence and work in Bangkok..
In emergencies (while traveling and vacationing in TH) I can use another hospital, there is a chance that you will have to advance yourself, but you can claim again at the SS where you are registered.

Middle management and above often receive an extra zkv so that they can go to private hospitals without SS registration.

Considering the premium of 12 euros per month for full ZKV, I have no problem with a 2-3 hour waiting time that can occur
And this insurance is for life!!!