The UCS is managed by the National Health Security Office (NHSO), an autonomous public
agency that was established by the National Health Security Act of 2002. The UCS is governed
by the National Health Security Board chaired by the Minister of Public Health. The board has
30 members, five of whom are from civil society organizations. Copayments, benefit package,
standards guidelines, quality standards, contract processes, and payment mechanisms are all
decided by the Board, including strategic goal setting.
Thailand’s UCS has a goal to promote primary care services by requiring UCS beneficiaries to
register with a contracting unit for primary care (CUP)2 and receive care in their home or
working catchment area. The CUP serves as the “closest to client services��?. High-cost new
interventions, pharmaceutical products, and medical devices are prioritized, and put into the
benefit package, based on Thai cost-effectiveness studies with the application of one gross
national income per capita for one quality-adjusted life-year gain as the national benchmark for
public investment in health; in addition to cost-effectiveness, inclusion of new interventions in the benefit package is also decided by the budget impact, fiscal capacities, and other equity
considerations.