Paying hospitals and clinics in Thailand: a guide for medical-travel facilitators, insurers and employers

Short answer. A hospital in Thailand sends a treatment estimate in baht and asks for a deposit before admission. The organisation paying — a medical-travel facilitator, an insurer, an employer's health plan, a referring clinic — pays the exact figure through Storspay to the hospital's bank account at the mid-market rate for 1% all-in, with the patient's name and the estimate number as the reference, and the admissions desk sees a matching domestic credit usually within minutes.

Medical travel in Thailand, and how the money moves

Bangkok and Phuket are among the world's best-known medical-travel destinations — JCI-accredited private hospitals, cosmetic surgery, dental, fertility, orthopaedics and check-up packages — with patients from the Gulf, Australia, Myanmar, Cambodia, Africa and Europe. The money usually moves between organisations: a medical-travel facilitator, an insurer, an employer's health plan or a referring clinic pays the hospital's deposit and the final bill. Storspay pays the hospital in baht the same day, with the patient's name and the hospital's quotation number in the reference.

Deposit, treatment, final bill

Add the hospital once as a recipient. Pay the deposit with the estimate number and the patient's name in the reference; when the final bill comes, pay the balance the same way. A facilitator with several patients in treatment pays all the hospitals in one batch and files one statement; each hospital sees its own credits with its own references.

If you are the hospital or clinic

Hospitals and clinics with referring partners abroad can send a Storspay payment request for the deposit and the final bill, and the partner pays it from their balance. Collecting from partners in North America, the UK, Europe and Africa is live today; getting paid from Thailand itself is not yet.

Documents, tax IDs and what the recipient's bank may ask

Thai banks ask the purpose of an inbound foreign payment under Bank of Thailand rules, and amounts at or above US$50,000 equivalent require a Foreign Exchange Transaction Form completed by the recipient's bank. Because Storspay delivers baht through a local partner, the recipient sees a domestic credit and the documentation stays light: keep the invoice and the Storspay receipt, and make sure the recipient's registered company name matches the account name. Thai businesses invoice with their 13-digit tax ID; a VAT-registered recipient will issue a tax invoice in baht.

How a payment to Thailand works on Storspay

1. Fund your balance in USD (ACH or wire), CAD (Interac e-Transfer or EFT), GBP (UK bank transfer) or EUR (SEPA) — to account details in your own business name. Funding is free.
2. Add the recipient once: their name as it appears on the account, the bank (Bangkok Bank, Kasikornbank (KBank), Siam Commercial Bank, Krungthai, Krungsri, TMBThanachart and the other Bank of Thailand-licensed banks) and the account number. Storspay checks the account name before you confirm.
3. Type the amount in either box. Enter what you want to send and see the baht that land, or type the baht figure on the invoice and see what it costs you. The rate is the mid-market rate; the 1% is on its own line.
4. Confirm. The money goes over the domestic interbank rail and usually lands within minutes — the same business day at most. The recipient gets a notification with the exact amount, and you get a receipt with the invoice reference.

Nobody in Thailand has to sign up, install an app or touch anything other than their own bank account. Everything on the recipient side looks like an ordinary domestic transfer.

What it costs

Storspay charges 1% all-in on payments to Thailand, with a minimum of US$2, at the mid-market rate. That one line covers conversion, settlement and delivery; there is no FX markup, no intermediary-bank charge and nothing deducted on the recipient side.

Rates in this guide are the mid-market rate on the day of writing (1 USD = 33.5341 THB); the calculator on the homepage shows today's. Large payments are split automatically under the local channel cap, under one reference and one fee.

See what your team in Thailand receives →

Questions businesses ask before the first payment to Thailand

Can a patient pay their own bill through Storspay?

Storspay is for organisations — facilitators, insurers, employers, clinics. A patient paying personally should ask the hospital's international desk which methods it accepts.

Does the hospital need a Storspay account?

No. It receives a domestic credit in baht to its existing bank account, with the patient reference you typed.

What if the final bill is lower than the deposit?

The hospital refunds the difference on its side as it would for any patient. Storspay payments are final once sent, so pay the deposit the hospital asks for and settle the balance against the final bill.

Can you pay PromptPay?

Not yet. Storspay pays Thai bank accounts by account number today; PromptPay is on the roadmap. Every PromptPay ID is linked to an ordinary bank account you can pay now.

Will the recipient's bank ask for documents?

For most business payments, no — the money arrives as a domestic baht credit. At or above the equivalent of US$50,000 the recipient's bank completes a Foreign Exchange Transaction Form; your invoice and the Storspay receipt are what they ask for.

Can I pay a Thai hotel or supplier in baht for a quote they gave me in US dollars?

Yes. Type the dollar amount and Storspay shows the baht figure at the mid-market rate; or type the baht figure on their invoice and see the dollars it costs — both boxes are editable.

Who this is for — and who it is not for

Storspay is for businesses and organisations: companies, agencies, schools, hospitals, facilitators, foundations and sole traders paying other businesses and professionals for work, goods and services. A sole trader counts as a business and signs up in their own name.

What Storspay is not is a personal money-transfer service. We do not open personal accounts, and every payment has to be a business transaction: an invoice, a contract, a fee note, work delivered. Money to family and personal transfers are not what this is, and we would rather say so now than at verification.