Collect Extra Tax To Fund Thai Healthcare Scheme, Experts Advise

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Collect extra tax to fund scheme, experts advise

PONGPHON SARNSAMAK

THE NATION

Advocates say all three benefits should be merged; everyone should be given equal access

BANGKOK: -- Health advocates yesterday advised the government to collect additional tax and use this extra money to support the national healthcare scheme. They also suggested that the three available schemes be merged together so every citizen has equal access to medical benefits.

If personal income tax is increased, then people should no longer have to contribute to the universal health scheme, which is run by the National Health Security Office (NHSO) and the social security benefit run by Social Security Office (SSO).

This proposal came after several experts discovered that there was a vast difference in the healthcare services provided by the three national schemes, namely the NHSO, the SSO and the Civil Servant Medical Benefit (CSMB).

According to prominent health advocate Jon Ungpakorn, people who have registered with CSMB do not need to pay anything in order to access medical services, while those registered with NHSO and SSO need to pay Bt30 and Bt750 respectively.

Instead of having people contribute to different healthcare schemes, Jon suggested that all three of them should be merged and funded by the extra income tax.

He also suggested that tax collected from people for health security should depend on each person's income. Hence, contributions from those earning more should be higher, Jon said.

He was speaking at the "Decade of People Participation for National Health Care Scheme" seminar organised by the Network of People for National Health Security at Sukhothai Thammathirat Open University, which was attended by up to 1,000 people from civic groups, health advocates and local authorities.

The government has been spending up to Bt200 billion per year, or about 3 per cent of the gross domestic product, on medical services for more than 60 million people. Of this, some Bt100 billion is allocated for the 48 million members of the NHSO, about Bt70 billion is spent on providing medical benefits for 6 million members of the CSMB and some Bt30 billion is spent to provide care for 9 million people.

Deunden Nikomborirak, a director of the Thailand Development Research Institute, said she backed Jon's idea of collecting extra tax from people to support the healthcare schemes, adding that this will also help the authorities be careful with the funds.

She also suggested that the government set up a neutral agency to examine government expenditure on these health schemes and report directly to the Parliament.

-- The Nation 2012-10-25

[DP25]

If personal income tax is increased, then people should no longer have to contribute to the universal health scheme, which is run by the National Health Security Office (NHSO) and the social security benefit run by Social Security Office (SSO).

There is no need to raise income taxes. The problem isn't the tax rate, it is tax collection. The people who are already paying taxes aren't the problem, it's the people who are dodging taxes that are the problem. Starting with the PM's brother. Get him and his cronies to pay their share and jail them for tax avoidance to scare the other parasites in to coughing up what they owe.

[GentlemanJim]

The government has been spending up to Bt200 billion per year, or about 3 per cent of the gross domestic product, on medical services for more than 60 million people.

The Government are spending more on rice pledging this year. They have spent more on the 'Flood 'non' prevention ' system last year.

[jerrysteve]

DP25: ITS not Tax Avoidance: Tax Avoidance is the use of legal loop holes in the Law which allow business write offs for expenses against income.

I think what you mean is TAX EVASION...In the U.S. people do go to Jail...As a matter of fact, the IRS OR Intenternal Revenue Service makes

the Nazis look like Chior Boys.

[Jaivin2011]

Stop subsidising healthcare at taxpayer's expense, in fact stop any free or subsidised healthcare, let people pay for it......if you are too lazy to work hard, them too bad when you are sick!

Really sick of being a middle class taxpayer who has to contribute for all the populists policies that does not benefit us. Also, if need to increase taxes, start with the hisos and also another way, impose high taxes on local thai chinese who buy mutiple real estate properties here and rent them out and also on foreigners who speculate in the real estate market here and also higher taxes for foreigners working in thailand.

[fareastguy]

I find post #5 rather hard to agree with, when your working yes you should pay for a health scheme, but a scheme which when used is free!

When you get old, possibly retired that is when you most likely need health care & are most unlikely to be able to pay for it as you've stopped working. The costs of medical care will be far more than you can afford, but why should you sell your house to pay for it.

Health care should be covered by taxation, but every working person must contribute.

That is the root of the problem, just how many Thai people do not pay any tax at all. or how many small roadside street vendors or small shops put the cash sales in their pockets & do not declare their incomes.

Apart from your 7/11"s & Lotus mini marts how many small shops do you know that even have a cash register ??

Where I live it"s 99% cash sales, if they pay tax it's only on an estimated fraction of their income.

I know plenty that boast they've never paid tax in their life.. but all want a right to vote, their roads swept, free health care, free schooling for their kids etc.. when I talk to them about my UK taxation system they can't believe it.

As with many European countries it's not all roses but we do have privileges that Thailand can only dream of, but it's not free.. we ultimately have to pay for it.

They want it but like all Thais they have a problem when they put their hands in their pockets.

Deep pockets & short arms !!

[Ricardo]

Why not divert 5% or 10% from the rice-purchase-policy to healthcare, which benefits all the poorer people, rather than the favoured few middlemen ... oh, sorry, I see the problem now.

[jonclark]

Stop subsidising healthcare at taxpayer's expense, in fact stop any free or subsidised healthcare, let people pay for it......if you are too lazy to work hard, them too bad when you are sick!

Really sick of being a middle class taxpayer who has to contribute for all the populists policies that does not benefit us. Also, if need to increase taxes, start with the hisos and also another way, impose high taxes on local thai chinese who buy mutiple real estate properties here and rent them out and also on foreigners who speculate in the real estate market here and also higher taxes for foreigners working in thailand.

So you want to live in a country where the sick are what..left to be sick, that means disease will spread more rapidly, perhaps even to you, as people have less access to healthcare and preventative treatments.

I would have thought that as a Thai (and i'm assuming that you are Thai) you would want to extend a helping hand to your fellow Thais who are less able than you to support themselves in times of need and provide for their basic human needs.

However judging by the rest of you post about foreigners, hiso and Thai Chinese it maybe that you in your comfortable middle class existence just enjoy looking down on and discriminating against minority groups or the less able in Thai society.

Having foreigners pay more tax would be a pointless exercise really as there are too few foreigners working in Thailand so any increased tax contribution would be insignificant in terms of real income to the government.

Edited October 25, 2012 by jonclark

[Theboy]

You think they use the cheap Government hospitals ! They all have insurance for the International/Private hospitals

[asiawatcher]

Would anyone please elaborate who these 'experts' are that advise Yingluck's crooks? There is already sufficient money to go around without taxing people, there only has to be some transparency in how much money is being stolen and have that back in the system to help Thai's. But that would be common sense and that is too hard - a lot easier to simply raise taxes.

[GentlemanJim]

Stop subsidising healthcare at taxpayer's expense, in fact stop any free or subsidised healthcare, let people pay for it......if you are too lazy to work hard, them too bad when you are sick!

Really sick of being a middle class taxpayer who has to contribute for all the populists policies that does not benefit us. Also, if need to increase taxes, start with the hisos and also another way, impose high taxes on local thai chinese who buy mutiple real estate properties here and rent them out and also on foreigners who speculate in the real estate market here and also higher taxes for foreigners working in thailand.

You see, this makes me laugh on a number of counts. YOU nor any other tax payer don't have a say in anything your taxes are spent on, so stop whinging that you have to contribute to a populist policy, because even if there is no populist policy they will still take the money off you in taxes. So top being sick of it, move on, taxes are part of life unless you legally know how not to pay them

Healthcare is not a populist policy ! And finally, I know lots of Thais who actually work very very hard, 12 hours a day out in the sun all for 250 baht a day. After rent, food, schooling, how much do you think they have left to pay for a family member who is hospitalized?

On one area we kind of agree, the Government should stop spending trillions on populist crap and sort out the healthcare system as it is verging on bankruptcy, but for every populist baht spent there will be 30 setang going towards a senior politicians pocket. So the poor can die and the rich can get richer.

[EarthAlien]

Tax collection at personal income level will probably never work or be able to be properly enforced in this country due to the culture and corrupt system.

When you look at tax on imported goods and even the levies applied to the cost of local vehicle production of foreign brands then those taxes could only be described as extraordinarly high.

This country's tax collection problem could be enhanced by an increase in the VAT system which also would most likely need an attendent overhaul itself.

Tax needs to be applied and collected at a level in which everyone pays, and of course an ultimate consumer tax is the obvious answer.

Setting the system up so that it was properly implemented and protected from corruption is another thing.

[monkfish]

A good place to start would be collecting TAX from foreigners who reside in Thailand more than 6 months per year who

decide NOT to pay the TAX in Thailand even though they are required to do so by LAW.

[hhfarang]

How about opening up the scheme for non-citizens for a reasonable fee. I can't get/afford effective health insurance here because of my age and pre-existing conditions. I would gladly pay something like 5 to 10k baht per year for basic coverage at government hospitals. I suspect there are many more expats who would participate as well which would add to the revenue stream for the program.