Calls are mounting for greater transparency in the handling of the Social Security Fund (SSF) following reports of excessive spending by the Social Security Office (SSO).
Sawit Kaewwan, president of the Thai Labour Solidarity Committee, on Friday called for greater transparency in the SSO's management of financial data, investment decisions and fund expenditures.
He said that the public should be allowed to access information on how social security funds are managed to make sure that the spending is in line with its intended purposes.
"We would like to see more transparency regarding the funds. A lack of transparency will potentially lead to corruption.
"Importantly, we would like to have better medical care services, and there should not be any double standards in care between different fund schemes," he said.
Various groups of workers who subscribe to the SSF have complained recently about poor medical services they said they receive under the fund.
They said medical care services provided under the fund are limited, compared with the universal healthcare scheme run by the National Health Security Office (NHSO), despite their "substantial" contributions.
The matter came to light after People's Party Bangkok MP Rukchanok Srinork, a spokeswoman for the House committee studying and monitoring state budgetary planning and spending, revealed a 2.2-million-baht overseas study trip by SSO officials and the 100-million-baht annual cost of running its hotline.
The six-day, five-night trip for 10 people included two 160,000-baht first-class air tickets, 16,000 baht per night for five-star accommodation in Japan and 35,000 baht per person for transportation, the panel said.
Labour Minister Phiphat Ratchakitprakarn and Ms Rukchanok also commented in an appearance on YouTube on Friday.
Ms Rukchanok took aim at the SSO officials' overseas trips and questioned what they learned from them.
"If things are still terrible after the trips, there is no point in organising such trips," she said.
In response, Mr Phiphat said that health benefits under the SSF have been improving constantly and downplayed attempts to draw comparisons with the NHSO's universal healthcare scheme and the SSF's medical care benefits.
He said SSF subscribers can access free dental treatment with a coverage limit of 900 baht per year, with mobile dental care units providing services to communities.
He added that the SSO is also considering raising the coverage cap to 1,200 baht per year.
"The SSO is trying to make improvements following [reports of] the overseas trips. But it may not be so good at public relations, so it must do more to publicise its work,'' he said.
The SSF is Thailand's largest public fund, valued at 2.65 trillion baht, providing welfare and financial security to 24 million members.
The SSO has defended its administrative budget allocation, saying that it complies with the Social Security Act, which caps spending at 10% of annual contributions. In 2024, the SSO allocated only 3%, well below the legal limit, the minister previously said.
However, critics argue that while the percentage is relatively low, the absolute amount remains significant -- equating to 7.2 billion baht from total contributions of 240 billion baht last year.
More importantly, concerns remain over whether the fund's expenditures are managed with transparency and efficiency after generating an investment return of less than 3%.