Abstract
This study aimed to assess the management and the operation of health facilities under ”Health
Insurance Policy for People with Citizenship Problems, the Cabinet Resoluion on 23rd March 2013“, which
enabled the target population to have better access to essential health services, through a case study in
Ranong province. Qualitative methods: in-depth interviews, group interviews, observations and document
reviews, were applied. Thematic analysis was employed for data analysis. The results revealed that, before 23rd March 2013, healthcare services were provided for people with
citizenship problems through “Health Card for Displaced Persons”. After the policy was implemeted, the
province set up its own managerial systems by allocating a due proportion of the budget for disease
prevention and health promotion activities, specifying the amount remibursed to be varied by the quantity
of services at the facilities, and encouraging proactive works through “Alien Health Officers” and
“Alien Health Volunteers”. Yet, in practice, there remained problems, e.g., communication insufficiency,
limitation in budget use, failure in registering populations who ever held the health card, and lack of
technical supports in legal academia.
In conclusion, though local mechanism for operating the policy is devised, its effectiveness should
be leveraged through several measures: expanding population coverage in concordnace to their actual
residence, increasing legal knowledge support, elucidating the budget regulation, and endorsing regular
monitoring systems. However, this study still holds some limitations, e.g. a sole approach through providers’
perspectives. Further studies are recommnded to explore the possibilities in developing recommendations
to a real practice.
