Cabinet stalls plea for bigger healthcare budget

He said the Cabinet asked the NHSO to discuss with the Budget Bureau the amount per patient that would support the universal healthcare scheme, because the Cabinet had seen conflicting figures from the NHSO and the bureau.

The NHSO asked the Cabinet to approve a budget of Bt160 billion, or Bt3,249 per head, to support the universal healthcare scheme in the 2012 fiscal year.

This represented a 20-per-cent increase over the budget of Bt130 billion, or Bt 2,546 per head, already approved for the current fiscal year. The proposed fiscal 2012 budget also included special allowances for medical workers, Jurin said.

The Cabinet decided to reconsider the NHSO's proposal next Monday after the NHSO has arranged a meeting with the Budget Bureau. It suggested that the NHSO invite Deputy Prime Minister Trairong Suwankhiri to chair the meeting.

Deputy government spokesman Marut Masayavanich said Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva also asked in yesterday's Cabinet meeting about the impact on the healthcare budget that would follow a notional transfer of medical benefits for Social Security Scheme subscribers to the National Health Security Fund.

He said Labour Minister Chalermchai Sri-on explained to Cabinet that if the government wanted to allow SSS subscribers to opt to receive medical services under the NHSO scheme, the government would have to amend the law.

However, the prime minister instructed Trairong to talk with relevant agencies and re-submit the issue to the Cabinet.

Meanwhile, a source who asked to remain anonymous said prominent economist Ammar Siamwala, a member of the NHSO board, had informed the Cabinet that the NHSO had no problems with the suggestion that SSS subscribers be allowed to opt to receive medical services under the NHSO's scheme. However, the government would have to allocate budgetary support to the NHSO.

In a related development, the National Economic and Social Development Board (NESDB) yesterday asked the Cabinet to study a co-payment method for medical services received under the universal healthcare scheme in a bid to control long-term increases in the country's healthcare costs.

It said that under a co-payment scheme, patients would be asked to pay for medical services that did not entail "expensive treatments" or involved "diseases that were not severe". The NHSO should support only expensive treatments or care for severe diseases.

Moreover, the NESDB said the NHSO should cut some its projects that duplicated the Public Health Ministry's activities, such as disease-prevention projects, in a bid to use its budget more efficiently.