Second, there are financial challenges that curtail the effectiveness
of health care services for migrant workers. For one thing, there is limited
information about how much is spent on health care for migrant workers. Some knowledge about this was gained in a study by Nitchanet and
Rattaso, who looked at data from Phuket Hospital in 2005. The cost of medical expenses for migrant workers without health insurance was 3.8 million baht (0.45 million USD). The cost of medical expenses for migrant workers from Myanmar, Laos, and Cambodia without health insurance in 2012 was 693 million baht.
In contrast, the overall national medical expenses for all of Thailand in 2011 were 4.34 billion baht.Moreover, funds for health care services, such as Universal Coverage, are very limited. As a result, health promotion, disease prevention, and diseasecontrol programs generally function at a level that fails to meet the substantial levels of need, and any use of funds for migrants is diverted from its possible use for Thai citizens. Although there should be some moral responsibility to provide health care for people who contribute to the Thai economy, including migrant workers and their
families, the potential use of limited funds for noncitizens may become a point of controversy.