Democratizing Health Care : Welfare State Building in Korea and Thailand

This book provides an account of milestone health insurance reforms that took place in Korea and Thailand, which significantly advanced equitable access and redistribution in health care. Thai and Korean welfare champions were deeply informed by their experiences as activists in their countries' democracy movements.

This book explores significant developments of the welfare state in the context of milestone health insurance reforms in two important Asian democracies, Korea and Thailand. The author argues that the changes in health policy, which introduced universal health coverage in Thailand and a single-payer fund in Korea, established greater redistribution in health spending and improved equity in access to health care. In privileging universality and solidarity, the reforms defied patterns of retrenchment prevailing in other parts of the world. The book traces the rise of new progressive welfare actors in these countries who championed citizens'' rights to equitable health care, mobilized voter support, and pressured politicians to legislate policy change. Demonstrating that the actors developed their animating beliefs and political capacity as a result of their prior experiences as grassroots democracy activists, the book makes a valuable contribution to understanding the legacy of democracy movements in the production of new social policies.