Bt30 healthcare payments to resume: Witthaya

Speaking yesterday as the chairman of the NHSO board, Public Health Minister Witthaya Buranasiri said the collection could begin in August after a Cabinet approval okaying it was anticipated by June.

The collection of the fee has its critics. A number of beneficiaries say that patients should not be asked about their treatment rights whenever they went to hospitals, as they had to repeatedly say they were under the golden card scheme, seen as an indication that they could not always afford to pay their medical bills.

Sureerat Treemakkha, a leader of the Lovers of NHSO group, said the Bt30 fee, while very small, was in violation of a government policy to reduce or eradicate social and financial division. She called on the government to review its decision to resume collection of the Bt30 annual fee.

The collection of the Bt30 fee was revoked after the military coup in 2006, which toppled the Thaksin Shinawatra government. Thaksin had initiated the golden card healthcare scheme, which had become popular with lowincome earners, who gave him political support as a result. 

There are 63,562,735 beneficiaries under the NHSO scheme and the collection would generate a total of Bt1,906,882,050. This amount will be allocated to 9,940 tambonlevel health promotion hospitals each receiving Bt95,703; 25 general hospitals each receiving Bt3,815,560; and 68 hospitals each receiving Bt2,257,125, among other agencies under the Public Health Ministry, an NHSO report said.