67-Year-Old Loses Poorest Card Over Son's Insurance Policy

On July 21, 2026, residents of Pang Ku subdistrict in Prachuap Khiri Khan district filed a complaint reporting that one of the poorest elderly people in their community had been disqualified from the government's poverty card program despite her severe hardship. They urged media attention and called on the government to resolve the issue quickly, noting that many other poor households face similar cutoffs.

Investigators found Samae (surname withheld), 67, living alone in a corrugated metal shack with no electricity or gas stove—only a single solar light bulb for illumination. Her kitchen contained minimal supplies: one bag of sugar, one bottle of fish sauce, one bag of salt, and one packet of seasoning powder. She prepares her own meals.

Samae's circumstances have been familiar to villagers for about five years, since she returned to her home village. Neighbors occasionally help out of pity, though support is sporadic.

Neighbor Samjai, 50, explained that Samae previously held a poverty card but it was revoked. The village headman told residents the reason: Samae holds a life insurance policy taken out by her son, which disqualified her.

Samae's son purchased the policy with an annual premium of approximately 12,000 baht and a death benefit of 200,000 baht—intended to cover funeral costs should his mother pass away, since he worried he would not have the means to pay for her funeral himself. When her son could no longer afford the premiums, a sympathetic neighbor stepped in, though on the condition that the insurance payout be split, with part reserved for funeral expenses.

Neither anticipated that Samae would lose her poverty card eligibility. The neighbor expressed heartbreak, noting that Samae survives on boiled eggs as her only daily meal, and called on the government to address this kind of situation urgently.