New Thai health insurance model for state staff proposed

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HEALTH INSURANCE
New health insurance model for state staff proposed
Sucheera Pinijparakarn
The Nation


Anon Vangvasu

BANGKOK: -- The Thai General Insurance Association (TGIA) plans to propose a health-insurance model for state officials to the government, in a move aimed at reining in ever-rising medical expenses in the public sector.

The association earlier proposed to the Finance Ministry that the state should allocate the fiscal budget for public officials' medical expenses as a form of health insurance, after seeing the annual cost increase by around Bt10 billion in recent years.

The overall cost of medical treatment for government officials has now reached around Bt60 billion per year, and insurance companies should be able to help control this burgeoning burden on the taxpayer, said TGIA president Anon Vangvasu.

The government does not have an established network for examining the medical expenses of its officials, which has contributed significantly to the steady increase in the annual cost, he said.

Meanwhile, private insurers had proved that they could manage the huge financial damages from the severe flooding in 2011 well, while global reinsurance companies have expressed interest in reinsuring Thai insurers' health coverage for civil servants, he added.

Anon said the association was confident that it could help control the cost of public-sector medical expenses.

If the loss ratio of health insurance among state officials improved, premiums could be reduced as well, he said.

The TGIA will also put the health-insurance proposal to the National Legislative Assembly, he said, adding that the association might require one year to push the role of private insurers in helping the nation to reduce the fiscal budget.

More generally, health and personal-accident (PA) insurance will together make up the major proportion of the general-insurance industry over the next 10 years, due to the rising number of ageing consumers and the fact that the Asean Economic Community (AEC) will rovide greater opportunity for such policies, said the association chief.

Health insurance currently contributes 2.98 per cent of overall non-life insurance premium in Thailand, while PA accounts for 11.48 per cent.

Thailand's hospital chains are attractive in the Greater Mekong Subregion, and health insurance and PA premium will dramatically increase after the AEC comes into effect at the end of the year, he predicted.

Last year, premium from health insurance and PA helped enable the non-life insurance sector to grow, albeit by only 1.07 per cent to Bt205.247 billion, which was the lowest growth rate for five years.

Health insurance premium grew 16.38 per cent to Bt6.09 billion, and PA premium expanded 6.04 per cent to Bt23.32 billion.

Anon said that in developed countries, the contribution of motor insurance within the general-insurance industry had gradually reduced from 50 per cent-60 per cent to 30 per cent currently, while the health and PA segments had consistently grown.

Global giant Swiss Reinsurance estimates that in the next 10 years, health and PA premium will grow sharply in line with the increasing number of 'greying' people around the world.

The TGIA acknowledges, meanwhile, that 2015 might not offer particularly good prospects, as major growth engines are unlikely to show signs of significant recovery.

However, the non-life insurance sector will try to maintain growth at two times the Thai gross domestic product, he said.

Based on estimated GDP growth of 4 per cent, the industry is therefore targeted to expand by 8 per cent.

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/business/New-health-insurance-model-for-state-staff-propose-30255317.html


-- The Nation 2015-03-05