Road Accident Fund To Be Shifted To Universal Health Care Fund

[george]

Road accident fund to be shifted to universal health care fund

BANGKOK: -- The Public Health Ministry has decided to shift a large amount of money from the fund for road-accident victims' protection into the government's universal health coverage plan, in a bid to resolve the financial difficulties plaguing the scheme.

A committee led by leading economist Ammar Siamwalla concluded that this was one of a few possible ways to find sufficient money to be injected into the scheme, said Public Health Minister Dr Mongkol na Songkhla.

To implement this idea, the ministry planned to propose an amendment to the Road Accident Victim Protection Act of 1997, he said.

The amendment aims to pool the revenues obtained from mandatory insurance premiums from car and motorbike owners at the National Health Security Office (NHSO), which manages the universal health scheme, said Mongkol.

The amendment proposal was expected to be submitted to the Cabinet meeting very soon, he said.

Figures from the Department of Insurance showed the income from collecting third-party insurance from car and motorbike owners had increased steadily from about Bt6.4 billion in 1999 to Bt8.1 billion in 2004.

-- The Nation 2007-03-22

[chownah]

ooops!!! do I see a finger wiggling its way into the pie?