The cabinet approved a budget of 5.1 billion baht yesterday for the universal health coverage scheme to plug a funding shortfall for inpatient care and staffing in rural areas.
Some 4.1 billion baht has been set aside for inpatient services and the rest for personnel, said government spokesman Sansern Kaewkamnerd.
The sum was approved as part of a supplementary budget requested by the National Health Security Office (NHSO), which operates the healthcare scheme, Lt Gen Sansern said.
He added Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha stressed how the rising cost of healthcare under the scheme demands that better measures be sought in the future.
Last year the scheme received 167 billion baht in funding, 11 billion shy of this year's budget. It is tipped to hit 190 billion baht in 2019 and 207 billion baht in 2020 due to Thailand's fast-ageing population.
"We've learned from other countries with similar schemes that some switched over to only covering selected diseases rather than be unable to cope with the rising costs," Lt Gen Sansern said.
"Gen Prayut wants all concerned parties to take this input and find better ways of dealing with the rising costs as right now tax revenue is not rising," he said.
The number of elderly is projected to jump 20% by 2035. This underpins concerns as to how the state-run scheme will shoulder the burden, he said.
Quoting the premier directly from the cabinet meeting, he said: "If the public expects to get everything they want [from the scheme] then they need to learn about how much tax those countries rake in [for full healthcare]."
"We have no plan to raise taxes now," Gen Prayut reportedly added.
Deputy Prime Minister Chatchai Sarikulya told the NHSO recently that he wants 2019 to become the first year it won't require a bigger budget, said Jadej Thamthach-aree, deputy secretary-general of the NHSO.
Dr Jadej said the NHSO constantly seeks a bigger budget because the government has been unable to meet its original demands.
He warned the body would likely have to shelve plans to work on improving the benefits of the healthcare scheme unless sufficient funding is approved.
On the reverse side, the scheme has been losing money, said Lt Gen Sansern.
The first quarter of fiscal 2018 emerged as the first time that no hospital has reported losses as a result of the close cooperation between the NHSO and the Public Health Ministry, he said.
Critics say the government has shortchanged the public in recent years by not providing enough money to take care of people's basic health needs, especially those who live in remote areas where access to healthcare facilities is low.
Their criticism grew so loud that when Thai rock star Artiwara Kongmalai -- also known as Toon Bodyslam -- undertook a charity run of 2,215km across the nation last year to raise donations to buy medical equipment for 11 state hospitals, his mega-marathon was not only met with a chorus of approval -- stories about the entertainer assumed a hagiographic air.
His high-profile run sparked further public debate on how badly underfunded the country's public health budget was, with medical professionals and public finance experts warning the regime that public health would become a huge burden the state was ill-equipped to handle.
They said reform was urgent because, as Thai society continues to grey, it will not be feasible to keep subsidising the growing cost of healthcare, making the premier's entreaty for new ideas a welcome move.