Thailand - Public Revenue and Spending Assessment : Promoting an Inclusive and Sustainable Future - Chapter 4 : Reimagining Health (English)

Thailand has become internationally known for its success with universal health coverage (UHC) policy and health development. Among a total of 67 million people in 2021, 98 percent were covered by one of three public health insurance schemes. Approximately three-quarters of the population are covered by the Universal Coverage Scheme (UCS) administered by the National Health Security Office (NHSO), and the rest by the Civil Servant Medical Benefit Scheme (CSMBS) administered by the Ministry of Finance's (MOF) Comptroller General's Department (CGD) for civil servants and their dependents, and the Social Security Scheme (SSS) administered by the Social Security Office (SSO) for private sector employees. UHC means that all people have access to the health services they need, when and where they need them, without incurring financial hardship. Two indicators have been used globally to measure progress toward UHC: (i) an indicator measuring coverage of essential health services; and (ii) an indicator measuring financial protection. In Thailand, without accounting for the impact of COVID-19, the latest UHC Service Coverage Index (SCI) of essential health services was 82 percent, 5 percentage points higher than the average of Upper Middle-Income Countries (UMICs); further, only about 2 percent of people spent more than 10 percent of their household total expenditure on health care. The achievement of both UHC indicators ranked top among countries in the Southeast Asia region. Overall, Thailand's health system showed strong resilience in responding to COVID-19, providing timely responses to COVID-19 and other related essential health services to all. However, addressing regional disparities in access to and quality of health services remains a development challenge.