Utilisation, out-of-pocket payments and access before and after Covid-19

Thailand’s Universal Health Coverage Scheme

Datos Bibliográficos

ID21881396
AutoresKannika Damrongplasit (0000-0001-9434-6114, Chulalongkorn University, autor de correspondencia), Glenn Melnick (0000-0002-2623-2278, University of Southern California)
Año2024
Volumen9
Número5
Páginase015179
Fecha de publicación2024-05-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaBMJ Global Health (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 2059-7908 • E-ISSN: 2059-7908
EditorialBMJ (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1136/bmjgh-2024-015179
PMID38740495
OpenAlexW4396902558
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas2
Referencias citadas18

The goal of Universal Health Coverage (UHC) is that everyone needing healthcare can access quality services without financial hardship. Recent research covering countries with UHC systems documents the emergence, and acceleration following the COVID-19 pandemic of unapproved informal payment systems by providers that collect under-the-table payments from patients. In 2001, Thailand extended its ‘30 Baht’ government-financed coverage to all uninsured people with little or no cost sharing. In this paper, we update the literature on the performance of Thailand’s Universal Health Coverage Scheme (UCS) with data covering 2019 (pre-COVID-19) through 2021. We find that access to care for Thailand’s UCS-covered population (53 million) is similar to access provided to populations covered by the other major public health insurance schemes covering government and private sector workers, and that, unlike reports from other UHC countries, no evidence that informal side payments have emerged, even in the face of COVID-19 related pressures. However, we do find that nearly one out of eight Thailand’s UCS-covered patients seek care outside the UCS delivery system where they will incur out-of-pocket payments. This finding predates the COVID-19 pandemic and suggests the need for further research into the performance of the UHC-sponsored delivery system

Business · Disease · Economic growth · Economics · Environmental health · Health care · Pandemic · Payment · Population · Universal design · Global Health Care Issues · Healthcare Policy and Management · Healthcare Systems and Reforms · Medicine · Finance