People with disabilities have urged Thai authorities not to reduce the health coverage they receive when employed.
Dr. Yot Teerawattananon, Director of Health Intervention and Technology Assessment Program (HITAP), on Saturday, 20 August 2016, expressed concerns about recent changes to the government’s health coverage scheme for people with disabilities. The reforms transfer people with disabilities from universal health coverage to a social security scheme when they successfully find employment.
“From enjoying free treatments, they [will] have to pay ... and they can only get treatments from registered hospitals. This is not to mention the process of patient transfer which will get more difficult,” said Yot.
Under the universal health care system people with disabilities can receive medical treatments from any hospital of their choice, unlike people with no disabilities who can get treatments only from registered hospitals. They also receive a monthly stipend if they are jobless.
People with disabilities need special care as some of the medical equipment necessary for their treatments are only available in large hospitals, said Yot. This is true regardless of whether a person with a disability is employed or not.
But under the new policy, people with disabilities will lose some of the rights secured by the universal healthcare scheme once they are employed. Employment may not always be sufficient to cover the costs of healthcare, while the treatments required by certain disabilities may not be available at registered hospitals.
Wansao Chaiyakun, the Manager of Yanakorn, a center that studies disabilities, criticised the policy.
‘It’s not that when [we] have jobs, [we] should be denied our rights in the universal healthcare scheme because it’s a basic right.”
Wansao added that currently he has to spend about 5,000 baht for medical treatments per month and has to go specifically to a hospital that has a urinary system surgery center. The government’s reduction in financial support for employed persons will make accessing health services more difficult for him.
Both the Social Security Office (SSO) and the National Health Security Office (NHSO) have similarly demanded for universal healthcare to be made available to all people with disabilities.
