“Hospitals that have collected money from gold card holders will be forced to pay it back, plus 15% interest per year,” Yupadee said, urging gold card holders who have been charged extra fees to contact the NHSO hotline (1330), saying it can be used around the clock every day of the week. Her comments follow joint research by the Thailand Consumers Council (TCC) and the NHSO into more than 3,300 complaints filed to the NHSO over the past five years by patients charged by hospitals for treatment despite having gold cards that entitle them to free healthcare. The TCC said that 3,329 complaints have been filed since 2018 and that when combined the total fees charged to gold card holders were 35.7 million baht. “Many people do not know that gold card holders must not be charged for medical treatment in any case,” TCC secretary-general Saree Ongsomwang said on Friday. Saree has submitted a letter notifying Public Health Minister Anutin Charnvirakul of the problem and urging the ministry to take action to prevent the wrongful charges.
