SSO criticised over exclusions
Labour leaders and dentists yesterday criticised the Social Security Office (SSO) for excluding them from a public referendum on Thursday on problems regarding reimbursement of medical bills for maternity costs and dental treatment.
Arunee Srito, an adviser to a women's labour group, accused the SSO of holding Thursday's session to falsely impress the public that it was concerned about the problem. She said many other labour groups that had problems with the SSO over the issue were also not invited to join the session. Government dentists are complaining that they have been overburdened by a large number of patients seeking dental treatments paid by the SSO while private dentists proposed that the SSO money be paid to private clinics as a whole for low-income beneficiaries, and on a case-by-case basis for beneficiaries with higher salaries. Both groups of dentists were not invited to attend the referendum. As for maternity costs, the SSO currently pays Bt6,000 only to male beneficiaries with officially married wives who give birth. Women are calling on the SSO to give the same to men with common-law wives.
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