What Thailand can teach the world about universal healthcare

 24-May-16, The Guardian

The Asian nation proves that a well researched system with dedicated leadership can improve health, affordably. In 10 years, its plan reduced infant mortality, decreased worker sick days and lightened families’ financial burdens.

Image: Dulyanut Swdp / Getty Images

While countries all over the world are moving toward universal healthcare, for many it remains just a goal. But a handful of them have rolled out universal health coverage schemes. Consider Thailand, where leaders successfully implemented sweeping healthcare reform without breaking the bank.

In 2000, about one-quarter of people in Thailand were uninsured, and many other people had policies that granted incomplete protection. As a result, the country was in a healthcare crisis. More than 17,000 children younger than five died that year, about two-thirds of them from easily preventable infectious diseases. And about 20% of the poorest Thai homes fell into poverty from out-of-pocket healthcare spending.

In 2001, Thailand introduced the Universal Coverage Scheme (UCS). It’s described as “one of the most ambitious healthcare reforms ever undertaken in a developing country” in the book Millions Saved: New Cases of Proven Success in Global Health. The UCS, which spread to all provinces the following year, provides outpatient, inpatient and emergency care, available to all according to need. By 2011, the program covered 48 million Thais, or 98% of the population.

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