Direct maternity, dental payments next year: Somsak
Maternity and dental benefits will be paid directly to the insured next year, Labour Minister Somsak Thepsuthin said after meeting with a group of labour organisations at the Social Security Office (SSO) yesterday.
The meeting was held by the SSO to discuss its plan to improve maternity and dental benefit services. The workers who attended the meeting complained that the hospitals in the programme provided poor service and asked the SSO to reinstate the old system that pays the insured directly. The SSO pays the hospitals Bt12,000 per capita for maternity services and Bt800 for dental services. Workers' leader Arunee Sri-to suggested the SSO would be better paying the Bt12,000 maternity benefit to women and allowing the insured to decide whether they wanted direct payments or free dental treatment at the hospitals. Somsak admitted some hospitals were not well prepared and that the office needed time to improve the service. However, he said the SSO would consider the workers' suggestion about the service.
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