I was interviewed for a story on NPR about how Thailand’s universal healthcare program has supported the country’s fight against #COVID. #UHC npr.org/2020/06/28/884… 1/18
I am a professor who wrote a book about the politics of universal healthcare in Thailand, Brazil and South Africa. Coupon code 09FLYER for 30% off at Cornell Press. cornellpress.cornell.edu/book/978150170… 2/18
I’ve also written other work on the politics of expanding access to healthcare to the poor onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.111… 3/18
The NPR story did a nice job pointing to some of the reasons why Thailand has exceled in the fight against COVID and how the country’s UHC program has supported that effort. 4/18
Thailand’s #UHC program played an important role in the country’s success. The fact that Thais don’t fear going bankrupt when they go to the doctor means people don’t delay seeking treatment and contribute to spread. 5/18
We have the opposite situation in the US, where people who don’t have insurance may avoid going to the hospital over fear of big medical bills. theguardian.com/commentisfree/… 6/18
Thailand’s UHC program is unique in how it’s supported by 1m+ community health volunteers. During COVID, they raised awareness, monitored patients, and more bangkokpost.com/thailand/speci… 7/18
We have no real analog to this in the US, although @PIH has promoted a community-based response pih.org/coronavirus-re… 8/18
Some are fighting for this kind of approach nationally actionnetwork.org/letters/demand… 9/18
It’s important to acknowledge that UHC is not the only reason Thailand has done well. There are many factors: Thais don’t shake hands. People wear masks to protect against illness. Country has experience fighting bird and swine flu. Lockdown. 10/18
It’s also true that some countries that don’t have UHC have done very well, notably Vietnam. This is usually attributed to aggressive lockdown measures. nytimes.com/reuters/2020/0… 11/18
However, some point to a pattern emerging among countries that have UHC and those that don’t 12/18
More research is needed, but the performance of the US and Brazil makes clear that denying COVID is a problem and not making investments in public systems will spell disaster COVID 13/18
To be clear, no country’s UHC program is perfect. Thailand has a healthcare program for migrant workers but access should be better tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.108… 14/18
The precarity of migrant workers has even led to concerns that conditions are ripe for Thailand to repeat Singapore’s experience
thediplomat.com/2020/06/covid-… 15/18
thediplomat.com/2020/06/covid-… 15/18
However, Thailand also has a migrant health volunteer program that is fighting COVID in migrant communities bangkokpost.com/thailand/gener… 16/18
Thailand’s experience shows that the financial protection UHC offers in a pandemic is a tremendous tool to have in stopping the spread of disease 17/18
The US and other countries could learn a lot from Thailand’s experience with #UHC #Medicare4All usnews.com/news/best-coun… 18/18
