Helping only the poor may hurt all in the end, seminar hears

[webfact]

Helping only the poor may hurt all in the end, seminar hears

By Chularat Saengpassa 
The Nation

 

 

SEVERAL ECONOMISTS have cautioned Thailand against falling into the trap of delivering state help to low-income earners only.

 

“State welfare should be universal,” said Dr Thorn Pitidol, a lecturer at the Thammasat University’s Faculty of Economics. A recent forum held by his faculty addressed the challenges facing the country’s welfare system. 

 

He said a focus limited to the poor would weaken state-welfare systems in the long run, because the government would then become accustomed to providing help and support for just a section of the Thai population. 

 

 

Thorn said overseas research had found that a country that focused on universal welfare would be more successful in closing gaps within its society. 

 

The lecturer suspected that the current government had launched the welfare-card scheme for low-income earners in the hope of spurring grassroots economy and avoiding funding problems that might arise under universal welfare options. 

 

“But problems may simply arise out of inefficient policies,” Thorn countered. 

 

He said several welfare projects in Thailand overlapped, complicating the provision of state welfare and unnecessarily raising expenses.

 

Several projects were also populist in nature and instigated or pushed by politicians or political-office holders to make clear to voters what they could deliver. 

 

Professor Euamporn Phijaisanit, who teaches at the same institute, said Swedish tax rates had minimised income distribution problems and Sweden arguably had the world’s best welfare system. 

 

“It’s not out of luck that Swedish people get comprehensive basic welfare from their government. Such a level of welfare is available to them because of collaboration between the government, the private sector and the people,” she said. She pointed out that Swedish people’s tax rates were as high as 56.86 per cent. 

 

Euamporn said it was understandable that Thais would love to enjoy the same level of welfare, but it would take time to implement the several measures needed to achieve that goal. 

 

“We will have to expand the country’s tax base, collect higher taxes from the rich and increase labour wages etc,” she said. 

 

She also noted that Thailand suffered many challenges, including a relatively low level of education, rising public healthcare costs and a greying population. 

 

 

In her opinion, Thailand should tackle its challenges by offering welfare that drove economic output. For example, the country should create job opportunities and suitable work conditions for people aged 60 to 70 years old. If they worked beyond the current age limit of 60, the country’s gross domestic products would rise by between 4.74 and 9.35 per cent. They would also be able to pay on average Bt4,000 extra annual income tax to the government, which would then have more money to finance state welfare for the elderly. 

 

 

Dr Viroj Naranong, a research director of health economics and agriculture at the Thailand Development Research Institute, said studies showed welfare states materialised only in a society with little inequality. 

 

“Welfare states are the result of people paying taxes for their welfare. It’s not the other way around,” he said. 

 

He is now especially worried about the 20-year national strategy, which prescribes policies for the country’s development over the next two decades. 

 

“This means we can’t change direction midway even if new governments are formed. Who knows if current policies will not kill us in the future?” he said. 

 

Viroj noted that problems are caused by policies that limit help to only the poor. It could cause even more problems to arise as some impoverished people might not be able to access it, and other not-so-poor people might use connections to portray themselves as poor in order to claim benefits.

 

“Everyone knows medical bills may easily drive one into bankruptcy,” he added. 

 

Even the middle class could quickly become poor when their families were forced to pay hefty medical costs, said Thorn. He and Viroj agreed that universal welfare was better than selective aid. 

 

The chairwoman of the Healthcare Workforce of Thailand argued that the universal healthcare scheme, which now offers most types of medical services for free to 48 million Thais, would end up lowering the quality of medical services.

 

“For how long will the government be able to shoulder the financial cost of the scheme?” asked Dr Churdchoo Ariyasriwatana.

 

Churdchoo said that with budget constraints, doctors would also find it more difficult to work because the list of medicines for prescription would become very limited. 

 

Medical Council’s board member Orapan Mathadilokkul said the offer of free medical services could also promote unhealthy behaviour among people who might think that in the end they could still get help from the universal healthcare scheme. 

 

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/detail/national/30355745

 

-- © Copyright The Nation 2018-10-04

[Oziex1]

Don't worry the poor will stay poor and those tasked with providing welfare will do just fine. 

[keith101]

The wealthy definitely don't need it and the middle class shouldn't need it so that only leaves the poor who are the only ones that do need it .

[SmartyMarty]

.....and we all know how good Thai universities are. probably good advice to do the complete opposite of whatever they recommend.

[mikebell]

3 hours ago, webfact said:

several welfare projects in Thailand overlapped, complicating the provision of state welfare and unnecessarily raising expenses.

I wonder why that is?

[Srikcir]

7 hours ago, webfact said:

Who knows if current policies will not kill us in the future?”

We know already.

Despite unrelenting efforts to revive the economy and spur higher economic growth in the third quarter of 2017, the Prayut |government has scored low marks for its economic management and prevailing income inequalities. http://www.nationmultimedia.com/detail/national/30334164

Indicators look good on paper but discrepancy between rich and poor has continued to widen under the junta. http://www.nationmultimedia.com/detail/Economy/30345955

A failed government that has imposed an unchallenged 20-plan on future governments.

Prayut should run under the party name of Future Failure Party.

[JAG]

7 hours ago, webfact said:

He said a focus limited to the poor would weaken state-welfare systems in the long run, because the government would then become accustomed to providing help and support for just a section of the Thai population. 

 

 

Well. they have been focussing on just that for the last four years - providing help and support for just a section of the Thai population. 

 

The section of the population who go to work in uniforms...

[chainarong]

It is indeed not all about the poor, the poor don't produce, if they do it isn't very much,  and a balance needs to be arrived at, you have the working poor that in most countries struggle everyday without much  in the way of assistance, these are an asset to the community, doing the menial jobs that uni graduates shie way from, these people must be compensated with a better deal, conditions and gratitude.  

[marko kok prong]

Problem is all they have to do is fill in and submit a form,nothing is checked,my Mrs got 500 baht [as if she needs it],yet she has 10 rai of land and 2 houses in her name,her Mum got 2000 b, when i suggested they did not need it ,they looked at me as if i was crazy.

[khunPer]

The wealthy and the middle class can take care of themselves, relative viewed from my position.

 

I'm from a Nordic country, Denmark, that used to claim having the best welfare system in the World; however with a total tax-rate of 45.9 percent, we took over the OECD No.1 position from Sweden since 2002. Sweden is No.5 in the list with around 44 percent only, after France (2), Belgium (3), and Finland (4). Average total tax in OECD is 34.3 percent.

 

The Nordic welfare systems are on the edge to collapse, because everybody can claim something, and too many need it, because they pay so high tax, that the cannot keep up the expected living standard without governmental aid. In Denmark they are talking about a growing population of poor Danes, some of them stand up in the news, and complain about not getting enough aid from the government to survive.

 

It's an evil circle that slowly expands, beginning with just a little more for the most, if not everybody, funded by small increases in income tax and other taxes, escalating to a point, where the welfare system lacks, because there's not enough money, and the already taxes hurt, and can hardly be increased more – we have overcrowded hospitals, not enough doctors and nurses, not enough health clinics, not enough welfare staff, etc. etc.; but we have many unemployed supported by the government, i.e. tax payers – and we have income tax percentage up to 51.7 percent, and you don't need to be wealthy to pay that rate; v.a.t. of 25 percent; car registration-tax from 85 percent to 150 percent of the price/value; the list goes on, you name it, Danish government tax it...????

 

Neighboring Sweden, mentioned in the article, is not that different.

 

Seem like the Nordic welfare model has failed, everybody pay too much for too little in return In my opinion it's better to help those that need it only, and let those that can afford it take care of themselves. However – and that seem to be the reason for the Nordic welfare model – there are tons of democratic votes for the politicians that promise something to everybody; in Denmark that began in the 1960'ies, be careful not falling into that trap...????

[Mac98]

Universal health care is opposed because the hospitals would be overcrowded. Yes, the poor must die in the streets so the well off have a short wait for a doctor to treat their gout.

[zzaa09]

12 hours ago, keith101 said:

The wealthy definitely don't need it and the middle class shouldn't need it so that only leaves the poor who are the only ones that do need it .

Creating a solid state of dependency, along the way - in every capacity and sector.

[Cadbury]

Submarine, tank and plane welfare is top priority. Forget the plebs, they can eat cake. Likewise those who expect health care.

[Denim]

11 minutes ago, Cadbury said:

Submarine, tank and plane welfare is top priority. Forget the plebs, they can eat cake. Likewise those who expect health care.

Sorry ....... cakes off. Budget for cake already overspent.

 

They will have to settle for chewing bitesize but toothsome pieces of submarine.

 

Yes....I know ....seafood is too good for plebs but this government cares and believes in equal opportunity.

[Odysseus123]

I agree with the OP and am rather impressed by their reasoning which is in line with anything else I have read on the topic.

 

However..Thailand has a problem..because it claims that 113% of the population (or thereabouts) is  employed..but only 30%are directly taxed (or thereabouts) which means that actual funding of anything is a wee bit problematical..

[zzaa09]

As long as my MIL has daily access to her betel nut. 

 

No problems here.

[greeneking]

Reluctant to blame the poor for needing help when those who plunder the country then work hard to avoid paying fair taxes.

Search Panama Papers Thailand and you will find all the expected names among the 1413 allegedly investigated.

2 years later AMLO does not seem to have reported.