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Published on April 8, 2008

Ever wonder who foots the medical bills when prime ministers and ministers check into hospital?

Samak was discharged on Thursday, the same day some lawmakers in Parliament complained that their annual medical insurance of Bt10,000 is too low, let alone the difficulties in getting reimbursed for advance payments.

On the same day, it was also reported that two private companies had approached Parliament offering to provide medical cover for MPs. But while one company dropped out, the other proposed very low coverage; for example, Bt30,000 for operations.

There was also a demand from MPs that annual check-ups should also be included in medical insurance, given that many of them are old and they want advance warning of any possible illness.

Indeed, most affluent MPs may not care about this. To them, the medical insurance and even a salary of Bt77,000 plus expenses (limited free air tickets and meeting allowances) are regarded as trivial.

According to an AsiaWeek 2000 survey, Thai MPs at that time earned US$1,019 a month, compared to $1,140 in Malaysia, $5,346 in Singapore, $8,045 in Hong Kong, $11,775 in the US and $18,164 in Japan.

Generally speaking, we should be sympathetic for most of them, who are usually paying out more than they earn. Despite the fact that their annual salary is about 13 times higher that of the median salary of working-class people (based on the assumption that the workers earn Bt200 per day), they could be asked to sign many Bt5,000 cheques in a month.

Certainly, if MPs who have no other financial support are contacting first-grade hospitals for medical check-ups, Bt10,000 could never cover the cost, which could be nearly double for a general check-up.

If they are hospitalised for a few days for flu, as in the case of Samak, they could expect to be charged about Bt20,000 for medicines, saline IV and other services.

However, if an MP were unfortunate enough to face a Kung Fu attack from another MP and needed to be hospitalised for treatment, that amount would never be sufficient.

It would be nice to have someone foot the bills. Why not the long-suffering taxpayer? However, if lawmakers are considering going down that road, they should pay attention to this. In 2006, a Brazilian MP was stabbed by an enraged housewife over a resolution by MPs and senators to double their salaries while delaying a 6.25-per-cent increase in the minimum wage.

I'm just concerned that with growing instances of violence in the country, something similar may be repeated.

Achara Deboonme

achara_d@nationgroup.com

The Nation