Surapong floats fund diversion

Finance Minister Surapong Suebwonglee yesterday proposed that a portion of the Bt400-billion Social Security Fund be diverted to private insurance firms for healthcare coverage of SSF members.

Surapong, who is also deputy prime minister, argued that this would benefit fund members who pay for the SSF but never use its medical-care services.

Healthcare is currently one of the seven SSF benefits to which fund members are entitled.

According to Surapong, many SSF members have bought medical coverage from private insurance firms while they already have similar insurance provided by the SSF.

"It is a huge waste," he said, adding that this had happened because some people were worried that the quality of medical services provided under the SSF scheme is not good. As a result, individuals and some companies buy additional health coverage from the private sector.

The government is studying whether SSF members should be allowed to transfer the medical coverage portion of their SSF membership to private insurance firms.

Surapong said the Labour Ministry had agreed to the idea in principle and that transfer would be done on a voluntary basis.

However, sources said the minister's idea would weaken the SSF's financial position and the government might need to inject more public money to compensate for the fund's shortfall.

At present, the portion "unused" by some fund members is used to cover the medical bills of poorer members who cannot afford any additional private insurance.

The source said the idea was unsound, as the burden could be passed on to taxpayers if the SSF became short of money.

The Finance Ministry previously conducted a feasibility study on creating a unified universal health scheme by putting the SSF, the Government Pension Fund and the Bt30-per-visit healthcare scheme together.