Factors Influencing the Effectiveness of management in the Local Health Insurance Fund :A case Study of the Local Health Insurance Fund of Suratthani City Municipality

Abstract

 This research aims to study the factors affecting the effectivemanagement of health insurance fund by Surat Thani Municipality and its operational impediments by using the combination of qualitative and
quantitative approaches. The sample and data collection methods in this study are (1) the in-depth interview with twelve Municipal Executives, who are in charge of health insurance fund policy, and (2) the survey of two
hundred staff, who perform their tasks based on health security fund.Content analysis is used as a main method for the qualitative study.Whereas, the quantitative data is analyzed through mean, standarddeviation, correlation coefficient and multiple linear regression.
The results reveal that factors affecting the effective management of health insurance fund by Surat Thani Municipality are (1) the participation of target groups (2) the characteristics of implementing agency (3) economic, societal and political situations and (4) monitoring and evaluation system consecutively. As for issues and impediments, the study shows that (1) an ineffective monitoring and evaluating system, and (2) the size of Surat Thani Municipality, are two major barriers. The findings suggest that the agency should increase the budget and focus on monitoring and evaluation process, as well as public relations. These will eventually lead to more participation and effective management of health insurance fund by Surat ThaniMunicipality.