Thailand only ASEAN country with universal health care system: World Bank

Deputy National Health Security Office (NHSO) Secretary General Jadej Thammatacharee said the World Bank had issued an article suggesting one of the effective methods to enhance domestic consumption and expand national economy can be done by providing the universal health care system as the general public will be less worried with the potentially high medical expenses, making them more at ease to spend their money in other areas. 

The report named Thailand as an example for being the only country in the ASEAN bloc to have such system, citing the Asian Development Bank’s data showing the amount of spendings in families with a member being ill and other families are not different as the government takes care of their medical expenses. 

The writer of this report also suggests Thailand can effectively maintain the medical expenses ration to GDP at the appropriate level, including that government spendings on healthcare is significant for the economic expansion in developing countries.