The influx of patients from neighbouring countries has created huge stress on the Thai healthcare system, and the country is looking to health insurance to bail them out
Thailand faces THB277m ($8.5m) in unpaid healthcare costs in 2024 from patients from three neighbouring countries, who availed the country’s healthcare facilities but did not pay. Patients from Cambodia, Myanmar and Laos heavily depend on the Thai healthcare system for their medical needs, with government figures revealing that these foreign nationals accessed public health services in border areas a staggering 870,000 times in 2024.
To deal with this major challenge that has affected the country’s healthcare spending budget, the Ministry of Public Health (MOPH) is actively working to resolve the issue by pushing for the establishment of patient records and health insurance provisions for the country’s unregistered workforce.