Agri Party-list Rep. Wilbert “Ka Manoy” T. Lee and BMP President Luke Espiritu urge PhilHealth to expand, increase public health coverage, instead of waiving Php90 billion to DOF
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PASIG CITY (SDN) — Government health assistance for citizens’ medical bills: Thailand, 91 percent; Indonesia, 73 percent; Philippines, 13 percent.
Patients’ share on their medical bills: Thailand, 9 percent; Indonesia, 27 percent; Philippines, 87 percent.
No wonder then that Rep. Wilbert “Kuya Manoy” T. Lee of Agri Party-list, said on Wednesday, August 28, that some poor Filipino patients do not like to go to hospitals anymore for treatment as they fear incurring more debts for their medical bills.
‘Takot at pangamba pag nagkasakit, takot mabaon sa utang lalo. So, sa bahay na lang, parang nag-hihintay na lang ng oras,” Lee says in Filipino.
(Translation: Fear and apprehension when getting sick. Scared of being further buried in debts. So, they just stay at home, like waiting for their time.)
As Lee was saying this, a grim and damning truth about what he said had already materialized in Cebu City as news outlets reported on August 14.
The incident in the Visayan city showed a pregnant woman was observed having her labor on a sidewalk along the length of General Maxilom Avenue said the Cebu Daily News.
As reported, the 35 years old woman named Mary Ann Tangpos, homeless, have been living on the street. Well-meaning people brought her to a hospital but she refused, signed a waiver after which an ambulance took her again to where she was first found.
She and her baby died on the pavement. Most likely, observers said, she refused to be in the hospital because she did not have money to pay her bills.
Let’s put some context in the above numbers which lawyer Luke Espiritu, head of the Bukluran ng Manggagawang Pilipino (BMP), cited at the same forum being conducted weekly every Wednesday.
He compared the stark difference health benefits the Thai and Indonesian peoples enjoy from their respective government to what Filipinos’ enjoy.
Espiritu said Thai patients pay only 9 percent of their medical bills, meaning their government shoulders 91 percent. In Indonesia, he said, patients pay only 27 percent of their hospitalization bills as their government pay 73 percent.
In the Philippines, the BMP head said that Filipino patients pay 83 percent of the cost of their hospitalization because the government pay only 13 percent.
Espiritu and Lee indicated that if the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) wants to increase the amount of assistance to poor patients it can do it because its fund has reached Php700 billion this year.
Lee and Espiritu bats for PhilHealth expanded public health coverage
The duo were the guest panelists at the Kapihan sa Metro East Media Forum now on its fourth iteration. Members of the media group chose them for this week’s edition for the timeliness and timelessness of their advocacies — workers welfare, etc., for Espiritu, and agriculture and health for Lee, of the Bicol Region.
The Bicolano congressman has been a staunch foe of Department of Finance (DOF) Secretary Ralph Recto’s plan to get from PhilHealth for the national government a whopping Php90 billion fund to be used for non-health purposes.
Espiritu wished those in power will not use the people’s money in PhilHealth campaign fund.
First, he said, the contributors have no consent in the government getting the money for used in expenses that are not programmed. Second, it’s the people’s contributions.
If they use that for campaign funds, that’s “estafa”, Espiritu says at the Kapihan.
Lee said PhilHealth money is “people’s money”, asserting that the government “can not longer lay hands on it… once it’s already PhilHealth money, it cannot be used for other purpose.”
“It’s part of sin taxes given to PhilHealth. It shouldn’t be taken back. This is one of the things we are fighting against.”
He said that instead of getting money from PhilHealth, the government should expand the poor people’s public health benefits, as he cited the continuously increasing cost of medicines.
A medicine for cancer, Lee pointed, out costs Php5,000. “Only the rich can afford. It is not right that only the rich can avail themselves of the medicine.”
The Agri Party-list solon said that, instead, of the people being a burden to the government, it’s the government which is a burden to the people. He cited as example the long list of requirements that citizens have to accomplish to avail themselves of services.
He said the Php90 billion the DOF wants transferred to the national treasury should, instead, be used for expanded benefits for the poor, including buying a PET Scan because in the country only the NKTI (National Kidney Transplant Institute) has it.
“If the doctor prescribes you to have a PET Scan, you have to wait in line for six months. By the time your turn comes, your cancer have already gotten worse,” Lee says.
A quick search on Google shows the price of a PET Scanner from entry level to the more sophisticated unit ranges from US$225,000 to $475,000 (approximately Php12.6 million to Php26.6 million a unit — $1 = Php56).
On dialysis and breast cancer, Lee said the packages were pegged at Php30,000 and Php100,000, as he suggested 30 percent across-the-board increase in the PhilHealth packages, aside from the Php500,000 coverage for one year.
What if the Ph500,000 package is exhausted by a cancer patient, what would happen if the patient still needs treatment? he asked.
The legislator said saving money for treatment is not enough because by time money is accumulated the disease is already in advance stage, giving cancer as example.
“MRI is needed to diagnose the disease of a patient, such that by the time (enough) money is saved, the disease is already malignant. There should be an increase in PhilHealth coverage and decrease in contribution of PhilHealth amortization,” says Lee. (✓)