Payment of Bt30 medical fee to be left up to patients
The government will re-launch the Bt30 healthcare scheme - with the decision on whether to pay Bt30 towards their medical bill being left up to the patients - by September 1.
The announcement followed the National Health Security Office (NHSO)’s executive board meeting yesterday, which studied methods to implement the Bt30 co-payment scheme at all hospitals across the country.
Former PM Thaksin Shinawatra initiated the scheme in 2002 in order to provide universal healthcare to more than 48 million people, and the military-installed government abolished the fee in 2006, making the service free.
Since April, the NHSO’s board has been reviewing whether to renew the Bt30 scheme or provide treatment free of charge. It has been studying a model that would collect small co-payments from patients.
The executive board yesterday came up with a resolution to allow patients registered with the National Health Security Office to make their own decision on whether they want to pay Bt30 for treatment received under the universal healthcare scheme.
The plan to collect Bt30 from patients was postponed from August 1 to September 1 because the NHSO was unprepared to implement the plan. Under the Bt30 co-payment scheme, Public Health Minister Witthaya Buranasiri said patients will be asked to pay Bt30 when they start receiving medical treatment in hospital. If they do not want to pay Bt30 towards their medical bill, they will be asked to state this in writing at the healthcare units.
Patients will receive medical treatment under the scheme at all state hospitals across the country, except healthcare promotion and prevention hospitals, because these units are not ready to provide such treatment and lack physicians.
The ministry expects that about 22 million people will be exempt from payments altogether, as they are members of exceptional groups including the elderly, disabled people, single people, people with monthly income of Bt2,000 or less, village headmen and blood donors.
“We want them [patients] to [have the option of paying] because we are concerned about their dignity,” Witthaya said.
However, NHSO’s board also instructed the Public Health Ministry to prepare healthcare units to collect money from patients for medical bills and provide treatment under the scheme.
