Before the UHC era, between 1975 and 2002, the government
had introduced the Low Income Card Scheme (LIC) for households
and individuals falling below a poverty line, regardless of their nationality
(Tangcharoensathien et al. 2010). After 2002, the government
withdrew and replaced the LIC by the UCS and expanded the
UCS coverage to those previously uninsured. However, this had
negative consequences for stateless people since policy makers interpreted
the law to mean that UCS beneficiaries must hold Thai nationality;
stateless people were consequently left uncovered and had
to pay out of pocket for health care. Financial barriers created low
utilization and catastrophic spending amongst the stateless
(Hasuwannakit 2012). Some hospitals, particularly those along the
Thai-Myanmar border, experienced high levels of debt from providing
services for these patients who did not attract an explicit subsidy
from the government (Suphanchaimat 2011).