Questions regarding the B2.2m” research journey”
Following reports of excessive spending by the Social Security Office ( SSO ), more calls are being made for greater transparency in how the Social Security Fund ( SSF ) is managed.
Sawit Kaewwan, chairman of the Thai Labour Solidarity Committee, on Friday called for greater clarity in the SSO’s administration of economic data, investment choices and bank expenses.
He claimed that the general public should be able to obtain details about how social security funds are managed to ensure that saving is done in accordance with its planned goals.
” We want to see more financial accountability,” the company said. Lack of transparency has the potential to cause fraud.
” Important, we would like to have better health care providers, and there should not be any twice standards in treatment between various fund schemes, “he said.
Several groups of employees who work for the SSF have lately expressed concerns about the subpar medical care they claimed to receive from the fund.
Despite their” substantial” contributions, they claimed the medical services provided through the fund are limited in comparison to the universal healthcare scheme run by the National Health Security Office ( NHSO ).
The incident was made public after People’s Party Bangkok MP Rukchanok Srinork, a House committee spokeswoman for, revealed SSO officials had spent a 2.2 million dollars studying and monitoring condition fiscal planning and spending and that running its hotline would charge 100 million dollars annually.
The six-day, five-night vacation for 10 people included two 160, 000-baht first-class air cards, 16, 000 ringgit per day for five-star hotel in Japan and 35, 000 ringgit per person for travel, the panel said.
In a Friday interview on YouTube, Labour Minister Phiphat Ratchakitprakarn and Ms. Rukchanok made additional comments.
Ms. Rukchanok criticized the SSO authorities ‘ abroad trips and questioned what they had learned from them.
” If points are also awful after the outings, there is no place in organising like trips,” she said.
In response, Mr. Phiphat remarked that the SSF’s health benefits have been consistently improving and dismissed comparisons with the NHSO’s general healthcare scheme and the SSF’s health care benefits.
He claimed that SSF subscribers have access to free medical care with a 900 baht annual coverage cap and that community-based smart dental care units provide services.
The SSO may also increase the annual insurance cap to 1,200 bass, he added.
” The SSO is trying to make improvements following]reports of ] the international trips. But it may not be so great at open relationships, so it must do more to publicise its job,” he said.
The SSF is Thailand’s largest people account, valued at 2.65 trillion ringgit, providing security and financial protection to 24 million people.
The SSO has defended its managerial budget planning, saying that it complies with the Social Security Act, which caps spending at 10 % of annual contributions. In 2024, the SSO allocated only 3 %, well below the legal limit, the minister previously said.
However, critics claim that despite the relatively small percentage, the total amount still stands, equating to 7.2 billion baht from last year’s total efforts of 240 billion ringgit.
After generating a return on investment of less than 3 %, there are still questions about whether the firm’s expenses are managed honestly and effectively.