Thai healthcare budget hit

[webfact]

Healthcare budget hit
By Chularat Saengpassa
The Nation

 

file photo

 

Aging population puts strain on underfunded scheme

 

BANGKOK: -- THE growing elderly population is putting pressure on the universal healthcare scheme, forcing officials to seek fresh funding. 

 

The National Health Security Office (NHSO), which operates the scheme, has submitted a Bt164-billion budget request for the next fiscal year but ended up getting just Bt151 billion.

 

“We have had concerns about such budget constraints,” Dr Jadej Thammatach-aree, deputy secretary-general of the NHSO, said yesterday. His office may have to request further funding later, he said.

 

The scheme provides free coverage for most medical services to about 48 million citizens. 

 

Full story: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/news/national/30306291

 

-- © Copyright The Nation 2017-02-14

[DuiDui48]

Hell yeah,buying submarines why better..NOT.And some rumors tells me that Goverment people haven't got their pay check for several month..but buing submarines...Eductionsystem fails,noting or very little done to put a much need edu reform in place...but subsmarines..Police get new toys,guns...Yeah,instead of a total much needed Police edu. reform...BUT,the weather is chilly,sunny and nice up here in Issan,always something to be happy about...Have a nice day everyone :-)

[jerojero]

Yes yes! Buy submarines and high speed trains for the old sick people!

[waldroj]

So, it's Thailand's ageing population that's putting the strain on an underfunded health scheme.

 

Apparently, the NHSO submitted a ฿164-billion budget request, but ended up getting just Bt151 billion - a shortfall of ฿13 billion.

 

Ironically, on January 24 the junta approved ฿13.5 billion in funding to support the navy's purchase of the first of the three submarines, with the total cost of the three boats being ฿36 billion (https://is.gd/12xqfx).

 

Still, I suppose it's a question of priorities - perceived military threat v's actual citizen's health issues !!!

[aussieinthailand]

Until the gov't of the day get's serious about the massive corruption and total wast in the health system here in the land of scams, there will be more threats of "co-payment" if not scrapping the service altogether.

I have never been too a public hospital in Thailand that is not overflowing with people and half of them don't really need to be there.

My wife must go to four separate hospitals to treat one health issue, doctors/pharmacy's will NOT fill one doctors prescription without seeing the doctor in their hospital, over service, more time wasted sitting for hours just to see the doctor to re-wright the same prescription that was from a specialist in a different hospital...

Doctors over service people simple fact along with the corruption and that is killing the health budget, not the aging population.

 

 

[Canceraid]

Governments all over the world should stop subsidising healthcare. People should be made responsible for their health and well-being . Stop using tax payers monies to finace health care for bums and irresponsible lazy people.

[oldcarguy]

12 minutes ago, Canceraid said:

Governments all over the world should stop subsidising healthcare. People should be made responsible for their health and well-being . Stop using tax payers monies to finace health care for bums and irresponsible lazy people.

So easy to say as right now your are healthy and hopefully your family is too.......

 

and maybe you have  a few $$$$ tucked away if you get sick......

 

but you live in a big world and what happens if half the people on the BTS are now sick and coughing because they do not have healthcare ?

 

Paying to keep everyone healthy keeps the rest of us from getting sick too,

 

Lets just try and spend the money that is used on  healthcare   wisely

[madmitch]

Read the same headline about the UK quite regularly. It's not just Thailand.

[Shroud]

2 hours ago, DuiDui48 said:

Hell yeah,buying submarines why better..NOT.And some rumors tells me that Goverment people haven't got their pay check for several month..but buing submarines...Eductionsystem fails,noting or very little done to put a much need edu reform in place...but subsmarines..Police get new toys,guns...Yeah,instead of a total much needed Police edu. reform...BUT,the weather is chilly,sunny and nice up here in Issan,always something to be happy about...Have a nice day everyone :-)

 

I'd rather by 10 submarines than living in Issan

[robblok]

1 hour ago, oldcarguy said:

So easy to say as right now your are healthy and hopefully your family is too.......

 

and maybe you have  a few $$$$ tucked away if you get sick......

 

but you live in a big world and what happens if half the people on the BTS are now sick and coughing because they do not have healthcare ?

 

Paying to keep everyone healthy keeps the rest of us from getting sick too,

 

Lets just try and spend the money that is used on  healthcare   wisely

Universal healthcare is good.. but there should be a good taxpayer base too. You can't finance it from thin air. Also some own responsibility would be nice, for instance smokers would have to pay more, same as people overweight, alcoholics and so on. It would be unfair if people who do care about their health pay for those who don't care at all. So a point system or something like that would be good. 

 

Also know that even in countries like the Netherlands were we got a good system the healthcare is not unlimited and people do have to pay for themselves. Also as budgets are limited you can't give everyone what they want. Would you for instance give a new hip to a 80 year old.. or spend the money on the healthcare of a kid... choices will always be there as the funds are never unlimited. People just rebel if taxes get too high.

[aussieinthailand]

3 hours ago, Canceraid said:

Governments all over the world should stop subsidising healthcare. People should be made responsible for their health and well-being . Stop using tax payers monies to finace health care for bums and irresponsible lazy people.

And now back to reality,  Not everyone that has no health insurance are "bums and irresponsible people"...!!! 

So if the working poor that falls sick bad luck sun shine, or some drunk driver smashes into a innocent person that can not afford health insurance is just stiff sh*t sweet heart, or as often seen here some idiot driving their car the wrong way up the road crashes their into another car or a crowd of people and maybe they can't afford health insurance, or have a pre-existing condition so they can not get health insurance is too bad sell the family farm and then go and die. and if any of this had happened to you or your family that your just fine with that.

[natway09]

The costs associated with treating road accident (victims) is one reason why there is a shortfall.

If the Police only understood the waste as a result of not doing their job.

[JAG]

The costs associated with treating road accident (victims) is one reason why there is a shortfall.
If the Police only understood the waste as a result of not doing their job.

I think that the police receive health care provision as part of their job, so not their problem!

[maewang99]

knock off the submarine nonsense. 

and the knock on the Thai public health care system... it works.  not like ours does... but it works and saves many people's lives.  and it is a feature of the Thai landscape now. 

it has saved lives. no question. I will testify to that. i.e. cancer.

it is much more likely that land taxes, digital enforcement of money flows and a change to the use of nominees automatically for all overseas originating Thai security holdings... will change... and that even the schools be decentralized (and the Ajarn lose the same heath cover classification as CS medical doctors and nurses get)... than the "free" health care scheme will ****ever**** be significantly abandoned.

and for the knuckleheads bringing up the submarines again.... it's Thailand's neighbors... such as Pakistan, India, China and Bangladesh that enter into military planning scenarios..... not just fishies swimming around in the Gulf of Thailand and your neighborhood drug suppliers. 






 

[jerojero]

Governments all over the world should stop subsidising healthcare. People should be made responsible for their health and well-being . Stop using tax payers monies to finace health care for bums and irresponsible lazy people.

Yes! Those damn lazy people who cause themselves to get cancer and other diseases. To H with all those letting themselves get sick. Are you for real?

[JAG]

knock off the submarine nonsense. 

and the knock on the Thai public health care system... it works.  not like ours does... but it works and saves many people's lives.  and it is a feature of the Thai landscape now. 

it has saved lives. no question. I will testify to that. i.e. cancer.

it is much more likely that land taxes, digital enforcement of money flows and a change to the use of nominees automatically for all overseas originating Thai security holdings... will change... and that even the schools be decentralized (and the Ajarn lose the same heath cover classification as CS medical doctors and nurses get)... than the "free" health care scheme will ****ever**** be significantly abandoned.

and for the knuckleheads bringing up the submarines again.... it's Thailand's neighbors... such as Pakistan, India, China and Bangladesh that enter into military planning scenarios..... not just fishies swimming around in the Gulf of Thailand and your neighborhood drug suppliers. 

 

As a fully paid up "knucklehead " who thinks that the submarine purchase is a grotesque waste of public money which could and should be used to improve the lives of the less prosperous in Thai society, could I point out that Pakistan is by no stretch of the imagination a neighbour of Thailand, maritime, geographically or otherwise. Thailand's vital maritime interests lie in the Gulf of Thailand, where it's major ports are, and in protecting the access to those ports from the sea to the south. India and Bangladesh do not impinge upon that access, and India's naval preoccupation, outside of a Tom Clancy novel, is almost exclusively with Pakistan, which means the other side of the subcontinent, not the Bay of Bengal, and Andaman Sea.

China is selling the submarines, so even if they are a naval threat to Thailand, they will have the submarines "taped".

I too use the Thai health services (I pay), and think they should be better resourced. The money being spent on unnecessary military hardware ( toys) - for the declared aim of "awing our neighbours" - would go a long way towards that.

For what they are worth, my observations lead me to believe that the public health provision will be cut long before the benefits of the civil service are touched - they are a group which have been assiduously courted by this regime.

[rickudon]

Submarines are practically useless except during a war. Surface naval ships can at least be used for maritime patrol, rescue missions and relief work.

 

Anyway, back to Healthcare .....

 

Free or subsidised healthcare is good for public health, and is also a useful social welfare tool. People who get nothing from their government, and have very little are ripe for revolution in an unequal society. By providing social welfare governments can pretend that they care and reduce the risk of rebellion. And maybe catching a nasty disease from the lower classes.

[robblok]

On 15-2-2017 at 0:43 PM, JAG said:

As a fully paid up "knucklehead " who thinks that the submarine purchase is a grotesque waste of public money which could and should be used to improve the lives of the less prosperous in Thai society, could I point out that Pakistan is by no stretch of the imagination a neighbour of Thailand, maritime, geographically or otherwise. Thailand's vital maritime interests lie in the Gulf of Thailand, where it's major ports are, and in protecting the access to those ports from the sea to the south. India and Bangladesh do not impinge upon that access, and India's naval preoccupation, outside of a Tom Clancy novel, is almost exclusively with Pakistan, which means the other side of the subcontinent, not the Bay of Bengal, and Andaman Sea.

China is selling the submarines, so even if they are a naval threat to Thailand, they will have the submarines "taped".

I too use the Thai health services (I pay), and think they should be better resourced. The money being spent on unnecessary military hardware ( toys) - for the declared aim of "awing our neighbours" - would go a long way towards that.

For what they are worth, my observations lead me to believe that the public health provision will be cut long before the benefits of the civil service are touched - they are a group which have been assiduously courted by this regime.

Your forgetting the Andaman sea.. but like you i feel the subs are not a good idea surface ships would be much better especially with all the fishing problems and so on. You can't not spend money on the military because you need money for other stuff. The military needs to have updated weapons too. I prefer it to be minimal.. just like in my country.. however in my country we found out the hard way what happens if you don't have a good army. 

[jerojero]

As a fully paid up "knucklehead " who thinks that the submarine purchase is a grotesque waste of public money which could and should be used to improve the lives of the less prosperous in Thai society, could I point out that Pakistan is by no stretch of the imagination a neighbour of Thailand, maritime, geographically or otherwise. Thailand's vital maritime interests lie in the Gulf of Thailand, where it's major ports are, and in protecting the access to those ports from the sea to the south. India and Bangladesh do not impinge upon that access, and India's naval preoccupation, outside of a Tom Clancy novel, is almost exclusively with Pakistan, which means the other side of the subcontinent, not the Bay of Bengal, and Andaman Sea.
China is selling the submarines, so even if they are a naval threat to Thailand, they will have the submarines "taped".
I too use the Thai health services (I pay), and think they should be better resourced. The money being spent on unnecessary military hardware ( toys) - for the declared aim of "awing our neighbours" - would go a long way towards that.
For what they are worth, my observations lead me to believe that the public health provision will be cut long before the benefits of the civil service are touched - they are a group which have been assiduously courted by this regime.

Yes, Pakistan definitely would want to invade Thailand, with submarines.

[JAG]

Your forgetting the Andaman sea.. but like you i feel the subs are not a good idea surface ships would be much better especially with all the fishing problems and so on. You can't not spend money on the military because you need money for other stuff. The military needs to have updated weapons too. I prefer it to be minimal.. just like in my country.. however in my country we found out the hard way what happens if you don't have a good army. 

Well, your country actually now has a rather good small army - I have served alongside them a couple of times and on one occasion I was very grateful for their presence (pm me if you want to know more ). What makes it so is professionalism, and effective and repeated training which follows coherent doctrines. The kit, although important is not the most important factor. The problem here is that money is being lavished on largely inconsequential amounts of expensive hardware, (submarines, Soviet era derived Main Battle Tanks and heavy wheeled personnel carriers ) which are largely impractical for countering any potential threats, or the terrain in which they would be required to operate, but which engender nice warm feelings in the senior officers in the reviewing stands.

Frankly, the most likely challenge to have the Thai military in the near to mid term is likely to be sustained dissent and disturbance from an increasingly marginalised rural and urban working class. Leaving aside the problems inherent with countering this with an army largely conscripted from that same class, the best way to counter it, I suggest, is by programmes such as comprehensive health care which would go a long way to disarming such dissent Perhaps you might say you can't afford not to spend the money on it!

[chainarong]

Everyone, the whole world,  knew about this in 1965 , so hardly a surprise , it's just that some countries are better prepared and care a little more about their people , instead of their Military..............................................

[robblok]

7 minutes ago, JAG said:

Well, your country actually now has a rather good small army - I have served alongside them a couple of times and on one occasion I was very grateful for their presence (pm me if you want to know more ). What makes it so is professionalism, and effective and repeated training which follows coherent doctrines. The kit, although important is not the most important factor. The problem here is that money is being lavished on largely inconsequential amounts of expensive hardware, (submarines, Soviet era derived Main Battle Tanks and heavy wheeled personnel carriers ) which are largely impractical for countering any potential threats, or the terrain in which they would be required to operate, but which engender nice warm feelings in the senior officers in the reviewing stands.

Frankly, the most likely challenge to have the Thai military in the near to mid term is likely to be sustained dissent and disturbance from an increasingly marginalised rural and urban working class. Leaving aside the problems inherent with countering this with an army largely conscripted from that same class, the best way to counter it, I suggest, is by programmes such as comprehensive health care which would go a long way to disarming such dissent Perhaps you might say you can't afford not to spend the money on it!

Not contesting that the subs (and other buys) of the army were wrong. Just saying the army needs funding too you can't just not fund them and send it all to others.

 

Anyway I was not talking about our army now.. but in 1940.. we had neglected it... did not take the Germans long to crush us. Not that it would have mattered much because even if our army was better equipped it would still not have made much of an impression on the far larger German army. 

 

I am actually for low military spending (here and back home), but some spending is needed still and it feels like we are getting ready for an other war. (not talking about Thailand here). The subs.. useless.. some surface ships that could police the fishing ships.. much better. I also wonder how the repairs go here in Thailand.. because planes seem to be falling out of the sky. They probably like the kickbacks of first purchase and then neglect on maintenance and get new stuff (better kickbacks) instead of maintaining the old. 

[quadperfect]

The thai people are getting such a bad deal from this government.

A submarine for thailand is the most rediculouse waste.

It will be a disaster . made in china.

How can they justify this to the people.

Is thailand going to war? 

I hope they dont put one off phuket.

They will kill some poor tourist for sure.probobly a boat load.