Financing health services and medical care in Thailand

After an overview of health care resources, the study: (1) analyzes the sources of and trends in health sector finance and projections of Ministry of Public Health (MOPH) and other public expenditures; (2) reviews costs and cost recovery in government health centers and hospitals; (3) analyzes household expenditures for health services and medical care and analyzes related problems of the urban poor; (4) reviews the extensive efforts to mobilize community financing of primary health care in rural areas; and (5) analyzes health card funds - a new MOPH initiative to develop a prepaid rural health system that will encourage the use of preventive services, rationalize the use of curative services, and increase cost recovery. The study"s key finding, presented in a final summary chapter, is that health services are financed overwhelmingly by direct household expenditures - expenditures which are increasing faster than household incomes. (Author abstract, modified)