Financial Protection Potential by Social Security Scheme among Insured Workers Admitted to Medical Ward of Mandalay Workers’ Hospital In 2011

Abstract

Under the Ministry of Labour (MOL), Myanmar exists a compulsory health insurance scheme, as a component of the Social Security Scheme (SSS) run by Social Security Board (SSB).  MOL runs three hospitals, two in Yangon Region and one in Mandalay City, to render services to those entitled under the SSS. The number of insured workers covered by the scheme is 520,000 in public, cooperative and private sectors. This hospital-based descriptive study was carried out in Medical Ward of Mandalay Workers’ Hospital in 2011 to explore to what extent the Social Security Scheme currently in practice has provided financial protection to those insured. This study involved interviewing 66 insured hospitalized workers. The total health expenditure for 66 insured hospitalized workers was 8,451,932 Kyats. According to this figure, 21.2 percent of workers encountered financial burden. However, 63 percent of the total health expenditure was reimbursed by the Social Security Board (SSB). After getting this reimbursement the workers encountering financial burden declined to 4.5 percent. The reasons for the remaining financial burden were the costs for attendants, meals, and transportation. It is recommended that the coverage of the social security scheme needs to be extended to other formal sectors, and possibly to informal sector. Through such extension, workers in the formal sector could get the social health protection from encountering catastrophic expenditure.