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 He said that the government would allocate a budget of Bt2,317 for each person under the universal healthcare package for fiscal year 2009, totalling a combined Bt108.98 billion. Nonetheless, the figures were rebutted by the executives of the Health and Welfare Insurance Office, who said they were misleading. They said the government would allocate Bt2,217 per person, which is Bt100 short of what the office had sought from the government.

The officials in charge said that although the office would receive a smaller budget, this would not change its plans to improve services to patients under this welfare programme. For instance, people over 60 will receive free flu vaccinations, and patients can receive emergency medical treatment as needed, rather than only twice as had been the situation in the past. The officials and the academics criticised the government for coming out with inaccurate figures to mislead the public. The universal healthcare programme is part of a populist policy platform and the public hospitals have to set aside the budget and resources to provide this service to their clients.

Several public hospitals cannot improve their services with their limited budgets. Thus, if the government wants to continue this programme, it should provide sufficient support and provide a realistic picture to the public on the level of services that public hospitals can receive with the provided budget. It is not known if the inaccurate budget allotment figure was a result of an unintentional error or an attempt to mislead the public by raising their expectations. But this should serve as a lesson to the government that the numbers always count, especially when they are spending taxpayers' money.