Equitable Access to Health Care Services

President Rodrigo Roa Duterte, president of the Philippines, signed into law the Universal Health Care Act (UHCA) yesterday. The law provides automatic enrolment of Filipinos to the National Health Insurance Program and expands Philhealth coverage to include free medical consultations and laboratory tests.

I remember when my uncle said that my paternal grandmother died due to lack of medicines to treat her hypertension. I never saw her face, but another uncle told me she looked like me. If there was a law like this in the past, perhaps she would have lived longer. Many people died because they are poor and do not have access to healthcare services.

Health is wealth and wealth is health. If you are sick, you are not fit to work and if you cannot work, who will pay the bills for you and your family (if you are the breadwinner), to survive?

With this very timely signing of the said healthcare act, every Filipino will be given equitable access to quality and affordable healthcare services. The availability of medicines and facilities will be properly ensured to promote the health and wellness of the citizens.

The said bill reconstituted the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation to Philippine Health Security Corporation that would be the primary purchaser of health services.

What is the difference between the words 'insurance' and 'security'?

Googling shows us --

Insurance is an arrangement by which a company or the state undertakes to provide a guarantee of compensation for specified loss, damage, illness or death in return for a specified premium.

Security is the state of feeling safe, stable and free from fear or anxiety.

They chose a better word -- security, yes? It touches the core emotion -- that feeling of being safe, stable and free from fear or anxiety -- which each of us wants to feel exactly.

My Philhealth covered my mother and it was a big help then when she was confined in the hospital and bills were reduced in a substantial amount.  Recently I called her up when she was discharged from a local hospital, and she was proud to say that being a senior citizen she was covered by Philhealth.

Thanks to President Duterte and the Philippine government for this healthcare system improvement! It does not only help the card members themselves but the families of senior citizens as well.

It is important that M&M (manpower and money) will be right to make this successful.

As to manpower, the Philippines is one of the top international providers of healthcare practitioners. There is a big challenge being faced by the government as the more experienced ones work abroad due to better opportunities. On the other side of it, when OFWs come back, they have with them valuable direct experiences learned from other countries with better world-class healthcare facilities and more seasoned health specialists, not to mention the benefit cash remittances contribute to the economy.

We have many, many nursing courses graduates. When I was active in manpower recruitment services, I interviewed hundreds of Filipino applicants who were nursing graduates but they applied for job vacancies which could be handled by high school graduates. It will be wise if the government will help subsidize the costs of nursing board examinations reviews, provide more training facilities for them and encourage those who want to pursue their nursing career to go on until they qualify as registered nurses, and help them find the right opportunities.

There are scholarships for healthcare-related courses (medicine and midwifery) and recipients can pay back in terms of healthcare services for a certain period. This definitely helps meet some manpower requirements in public health services. I hope that there will be more scholarships for more healthcare-related courses, and more colleges will collaborate, so we do not run short of qualified healthcare practitioners.

As to money, it is time to check if we regularly pay our dues for the premium so we can do our part at least. The fund for this UHCA comes from members' contributions, mandatory contributions of the national subsidy in the General Appropriations Act, an appropriation from the Department of Health, 50% of the national government share in the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation, 40% of the Charity Fund of the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office, and net documentary stamp tax payments.

OFWs have the same premium contributions of PhP2,400/year under the Overseas Workers Program applicable to land-based ones. There is an option to pay PhP1,200/half year.  (See Philhealth Contribution Table 2019 here.)

For this UHCA thing, I give my double thumbs up. It will enlighten many Filipinos -- specifically the helpless and needy ones,  to choose life and have high hopes. This is one great way to help extend that precious gift of life, either on a preventive or curative approach.

I am passionately madly in love with life, and no matter what situation I am in every stage of my journey on earth, I want to be in good health, particularly mental health.

P. T. Barnum says, "The foundation of success in life is good health: that is the substratum fortune; it is also the basis of happiness. A person cannot accumulate a fortune very well when he is sick."

Our health care system truly evolves. 'Equitable access to health care services' is a line that truly brings sparks of joy to many people. For those who want better health security packages, there are many to choose from in the market. It is wise to study the basics and evaluate the options.

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Photo credits:  Pixabay