By DOMINIC GUTOMAN
Bulatlat.com
MANILA — That Filipino households have high out-of-pocket (OOP) health expenses worsens the people’s poverty and health.
According to Dr. Edelina De la Paz, chairperson of Health Alliance for Democracy (HEAD), the OOP health expenses are pegged at 45 percent of the total health expenses per household. OOP refers to the patient’s payment for medical expenses not covered by government or private insurance.
In a policy brief, the high OOP for health care is associated with negative health outcomes that include impoverishment, poor habits on consumption spending, and decision-making that can lead to failure to comply with prescribed treatment plans.
“While the people are paying high out-of-pocket expenses, [the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation or] Philhealth is earning so much profit that the Department of Finance wants to get the surplus funds for other unprogrammed expenses like Maharlika investment,” De la Paz said.
The Department of Health (DOH) earlier announced that there is P89.9 billion unused government subsidy for Philhealth, the national health insurance program of the government. They sought to transfer the unused funds for “unprogrammed appropriations” in the 2024 budget.
“Philhealth has become a milking cow for corrupt officials and companies, with reports of irregularities and corruption,” De la Paz said.
During the pandemic, the Duterte administration was urged to hold accountable ranking officials of Philhealth over the alleged P15 billion ($307 million) corruption. Concerned groups and individuals have been calling out the contribution premium hike for workers, adding layers of burdens amid massive price hikes and inflation, as well as unresolved issues in the Philhealth.
Read: Duterte urged to hold ‘Philhealth mafia’ accountable for alleged P15B corruption
Read: Prioritize wage hike instead of Philhealth premium – solon
Dr. Jamie Dasmariñas of the Coalition for People’s Right to Health (CPRH) said that utilizing Philhealth requires health institutions to be accredited. “If you are poor and you do not have a barangay health station, and the nearest station is also not accredited by Philhealth, there is no other option for you,” she said in Filipino.
Dasmariñas stressed that Philhealth funds should be reallocated to barangay health stations and local government units because the process of Philhealth is also taxing for patients, and mostly falls under layers of red tape.
In a unity statement, CPRH called on the Marcos Jr. administration to set up health centers in every barangay with a complement of adequate health personnel, basic laboratories, supplies, and equipment in the wake of severe understaffing and subpar working conditions of healthcare workers.
Kalipunan ng Damayang Mahihirap (Kadamay) Secretary General Eufemia Doringo said that health centers remain inaccessible for poor Filipino households. “We cannot really rely on it […] because there is only one doctor to accommodate the communities in the barangay. We cannot tell ourselves to stop being sick because the doctor or nurse is not available […] There is always a limitation.”
HEAD said that the average hospital bill for confined patients is P46,640, three times the NCR minimum wage of P610 daily or P13,420 monthly.
Diseases linked to poverty like tuberculosis (TB) are also on the rise. In the latest Global Tuberculosis Report of the World Health Organization (WHO), there were 638 cases of TB per 100,000 people.
“Another major problem is the shortage of medicines. It should be supplied by the government, especially with their Anti-TB program. However, health workers in different regions failed to acquire medicines. These diseases could have also been prevented,” De la Paz said.
She stressed that the problems on peoples’ access to healthcare services can only be addressed with massive change in the healthcare system and the resolution of the root causes of poverty and economic underdevelopment. “This means providing an adequate budget for health, strengthening state-funded public healthcare, scrapping privatization in health while addressing landlessness and strengthening the local industries.” (RTS, DAA) 
