Following recent accusations that private hospitals have been double-charging patients for emergency care, Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra has reiterated her position that private hospitals must treat all patients.
Patients taking part in one of the three national healthcare schemes – the National Health Security Fund, the Social Security Fund and the Civil Servants Medical Benefit Fund – are eligible to receive emergency medical care from private hospitals, care for which the private hospitals can then ask the government for reimbursement.
Controversy emerged recently when some private hospitals began charging patients out of pocket for medical care, then also turning around and asking the government to pay for the same services.
The Nation, however, reports that Yingluck has promised that all those who were double-charged may petition the government for reimbursement.
Private hospitals have been providing emergency care under the national healthcare system since April of last year, when the government put the scheme into effect.
