ABSTRACT
Thailand’s social protection system, comprised of healthcare and aid for children, working age population, the elderly, and disabled, has several sub-components. Coverage in areas other than healthcare and education remains low. Social protection has a problem of interpretation of the terms “adequate”, “minimum”, “basic”, “essential” and so forth, and since these terms have no clear meaning, they may be interpreted in many divergent ways, so it is hard to define the scope of social protection. As such, the extension of more social protection to workers in the informal sectors should be finite, otherwise it may face the problem of moral hazard because of lack of efficient registration and a good distribution system. It is recommended therefore that before taking further action along these recommendations, more study and planning should be done on the implementation of the programs.
In the context of social protection or Social Protection Floor (SPF), looking at the coverage and financing issues are not enough, since they deal with only the quantitative aspect of social protection. Indeed, there are quite a few pitfalls in implementations, beyond fiscal space and/or sustainability, which include the quality as well as the inequality of social protection, management, accessibility, governance, and even political instability. Tax reforms, management improvement, and development of a participatory welfare system can be utilized to expand fiscal space.
