We'll pay road toll bills, NHSO tells insurers

The ministry found that insurers had paid out only 20 per cent of insurance premiums per year in settling claims for medical charges, but had spent up to 60 per cent for administrative expenses, Public Health Minister Wittaya Kaewparadai said yesterday.

The premiums should be transferred to the NHSO, as its role is to take care of people's treatment and their treatment charges, he said.

"The NHSO will probably separate out about 10 per cent of the premiums as its management budget, or more, but it won't spend as much as 60 per cent on administration," he said.

Dr Winai Swasdivorn, secretarygeneral of the NHSO, said the reason why the Traffic Victim Protection Act of 2007 had to be implemented in the past was because no one took responsibility for the treatment charges of some of the injured people.

But now there was no need to enforce the act as the national healthcare scheme pays for traffic victims instead of insurance companies.

"Research found that traffic victims don't request for compensation from insurance companies because of the complicated process," Winai said.

Wittaya said he would discuss the issue with the transport minister, directorgeneral of the Land Transport Department and the insurance companies.