I think you raise some excellent questions, Orchid. Especially about the importance of learning the native language, and then immersing yourself into the country's culture, as opposed to just living in an "ex-pat barrio." (My term.)

As for Thailand's ability to offer top care for complex health problems, all I know is this: CNBC lists Thailand as one of the top countries for medical tourism, and notes that Thailand is most known as a resource for cosmetic surgery -- including gender reassignment

The CNBC site notes that:
Quote:
The Thai capital of Bangkok is home to one of the world's best known hospitals for medical tourists, Bumrungrad International, which has been seeing foreign patients for 20 years. It has over 900 physicians across 55 specialties and sees around 1,000 international patients every day.

Treatment in Thailand comes at 50-70 percent of the cost in the U.S. — and up to 30,000 American health tourists travel there each year, according to the Medical Tourism Research Guide. Bumrungrad International prices a nose job at 169,000 Thai bahts ($5,205) on its website.


A related article from February of 2014 also notes that as the political situation in Thailand may be scaring away some medical tourism visitors, there are other countries waiting to take up the slack.
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