Hospital and surgery costs for my mother

I'm raising money for my mother to help pay for her current hospitalization and upcoming vital surgery.

We have to pay daily accruing hospital costs, a transfer to a big hospital in Bangkok and the costs for an operation there plus possible follow up costs. In addition, it would make sense to be able to pay a lawyer who deals with the health insurance company.

What's happened

My mother comes from Germany and emigrated to Thailand a good 2 months ago at the age of 85(!), healthy and fit to join me and her little grandson.

She was happy and full of life. In the last month she had health problems and had to stay in the local hospital for a few days. Heart failure and atrial fibrillation were diagnosed. There was also edema (a swelling caused by water retention) which rapidly worsened and reached her legs, stomach and back and which was attributed to the weak heart.

Unfortunately, her insurance, which she had previously taken out here in Thailand (WRLife), took a long time to refuse to cover the costs on the grounds that it must have been a pre-existing condition.

This is ridiculous and has no factual basis. The attending physician in the hospital therefore contradicted this assertion in writing and once again explained his doctor's letter clearly and unequivocally. But the insurance company has so far declined to comment further and is waiting for us to take (expensive) legal action.

After this first stay in hospital, my mother left the hospital with many medications and a much better functioning heart, but still with so much extra water in her body that it was difficult for her to move.

But now she's back in the hospital, lying on the ICU and will most likely need surgery soon.

The history

After she was back home from her first hospital stay, the next problems begun. What started out as a small reddening of the skin developed into a very painful shingles and forced my mother to rest in bed. In those days everything started to deteriorate. Due to the lack of movement, the heart became weaker again and more water accumulated. Her digestion slowed down and she became weaker and weaker every day.

On the morning of 11/30/22 the ambulance picked her up and since then she has been in the ICU at San Paulo Hospital in Hua Hin.

This is now her second hospitalization in a short time and in addition to everything known, a sub ileus has now been diagnosed and an additional streptococcal infection of the skin regions affected by the shingles.

To date, the health insurance company has not covered any costs, although the situation is clear. The insurance is taken out, paid for and has no waiting period. My mother stated all previous illnesses, including an ileus operation in Germany in 2018, but the insurance company did not exclude anything in this regard when the contract was issued. All refusals to accept costs are made by the Bangkok service and not explicitly on behalf of the insurance company. The contractual partner is the insurance company. It's difficult legally.

The problem is that the insurance cannot be grasped for us because the communication takes place via an external (independent!?) service provider in Thailand (Assist International) and the insurance itself is obviously located in St. Louis, where the insurance license probably comes from. In the insurance contract there is an office address in London, but it is not accessible to us and only leads to a shopping center on Google maps.

At that time, my mother had the choice between two insurance companies that were willing to accept her at the age of 85. The first one had ruled out nearly all kinds of possible illnesses and the second was WRLife. That is why she is insured there for EUR 565 per month now. I've asked everywhere beforehand and it was mostly said that they always paid, but it was always comparatively small amounts. In the meantime I was also told that the insurance company allegedly has no reinsurer.

Raising goal and Cost situation

(1) Costs up to day: THB 304,000 (approximately 8700 USD)
In addition to the first hospital stay, which we had to pay for over THB 66K and another approx. THB 30K, which I had to pay for outpatient doctor visits, THB 208K have arisen for her current hospital stay (as of today, 04.12.22 in the afternoon). That it isn't much more (just the first night in the ICU already cost THB 70K) is only because the hospital is accommodating to us where it can and tries to save on all expenses that are not absolutely necessary.

(2) Increasing costs per day (currently and approximately): THB 35K (approximately 1000 USD)
But the cost is increasing every day (currently around THB 30-40K per day). If my mother's condition deteriorates, it can very quickly become much more expensive again.

(3) Operation coasts THB 500K - 900K+ (approximately 14,400 - 25,900 USD) – depending on the hospital and course of the op
Due to her age and the various health problems at the same time, a necessary ileus operation cannot be performed here. This can only be done in one of the really big hospitals in Bangkok. And that will cost THB 500K - 900K+ according to the previous calculations. However, probably she will not be able to leave the hospital immediately after an operation, so that additional costs will arise for a few days stay after the operation.

Overall raising goal (1,2,3)
THB 980,000 (approximately 28,200 USD)

Everything that could be made available in terms of savings has now been used and her health situation is getting worse due to the lack of exercise. In the meantime she has almost 20KG(!) more body weight due to stored water. This in turn leads to greater stress on the heart and now also puts pressure on the kidneys, which is why this excess water can no longer get out of the body in the normal way.
One thing leads to the next.

It's a nightmare.

If you can help, no matter how small, or if you can help others to find out about this and help in this way, please do so!!!

I will keep updating here.

UPDATE 07.12.2022:
Unfortunately, my mother passed away in the ICU. We are all very sad, also because her death could have been avoided with a timely operation. The behavior of the insurance company, which to date has not even sent a Certificate of Benefits (confirmation of the insurance status) to the hospital, is largely responsible for this. We will use the money from this fund to cover the hospital costs incurred and appropriate lawyers to take action against the insurance company. All donations that have been made so far will be refunded immediately if this is desired. Thanks very much!

อัปเดต 12/07/2022:
น่าเสียดายที่แม่ของฉันเสียชีวิตในห้องไอซียู เราทุกคนเสียใจมากเช่นกันเพราะสามารถหลีกเลี่ยงการตายของเธอได้ด้วยการผ่าตัดที่ทันท่วงที พฤติกรรมของบริษัทประกันภัยซึ่งปัจจุบันยังไม่ได้ส่งใบรับรองผลประโยชน์ (การยืนยันสถานะการประกัน) ให้กับโรงพยาบาล ส่วนใหญ่เป็นผู้รับผิดชอบในเรื่องนี้ เราจะใช้เงินจากกองทุนนี้เพื่อครอบคลุมค่ารักษาพยาบาลที่เกิดขึ้นและทนายความที่เหมาะสมในการดำเนินการกับบริษัทประกันภัย การบริจาคทั้งหมดที่ทำไปแล้วจะได้รับเงินคืนทันทีหากต้องการ ขอบคุณมาก ๆ!