Govt denies health scheme cuts

The government denies the gold card health insurance scheme run by the National Health Security Office (NHSO) will be scrapped because of budget constraints.

Spokesman Lt Gen Sansern Kaewkamnerd said not only are the reports untrue, but the Public Health Ministry and NHSO plan to provide additional healthcare services to gold card holders.

He said the Budget Bureau will allocate the NHSO 128.5 billion baht from the 2018 budget, or 3,197.32 baht per head, a rise of about 87.75 baht per head from 2017. The budget for the scheme has increased for the past two or three years.

Cardholders will be provided with three additional services — checkups for those at risk of colon cancer, vaccinations against cervical cancer, and medical treatment in emergencies, Lt Gen Sansern said.

Social media posts suggested that while people were distracted by news of the search for fugitive former abbot Phra Dhammajayo, the government had cut the allocation for the gold card scheme, which he said was not true.

Atthaporn Limpanyalert, an NHSO spokesman, also rejected speculation on social media the 2018 budget allocation for the NHSO gold card scheme has been slashed from 13 billion baht to only 500 million baht.

Dr Atthaporn said the NHSO originally sought a 2018 budget of 141 billion baht for the gold card scheme from the Budget Bureau, which asked to cut it to about 128 billion baht. Still, the reduced amount was 5 billion baht higher than the budget allocation for 2017, he said.

Despite the high amount, it is still not enough to cover new benefits added to the scheme for 2018. In light of this, the NHSO bargained for an increase in the budget allocation.

The Budget Bureau recognised the need and agreed to provide an additional budget allocation of 500 million baht, Dr Atthaporn said.

This means the budget allocation for the gold card scheme in 2018 will not be reduced but actually increase by about 500 million baht, he said.