The precarious future of the Universal Health Care
Perhaps one of the achievements that the Duterte Administration counts as its legacy to the Filipino people is the passage of the Universal Health Care (UHC) Act (Republic Act No. 11223). The UHC promises to address inequity in the country’s health system as it envisions providing every Filipino of the highest possible quality of health care that is accessible, efficient, equitably distributed, adequately funded, and fairly financed, and appropriately used by an informed and empowered public.
According to the Department of Health, the UHC has three strategic thrusts: 1) financial risk protection; 2) improved access to quality hospitals and health care facilities; and 3) attainment of health-related Millennium Development Goals.
According to President Duterte, the Universal Health Care Law will guarantee equitable access to quality and affordable health care services for all Filipinos by automatically enrolling all citizens into the National Health Insurance Program and expanding PhilHealth coverage to include free medical consultations and laboratory tests,
No less than the World Health Organization recognizes that adopting a UHC is a political choice like elsewhere in the world. Indeed, the UHC is a political decision hatched from the chambers composed of politicians who woo for its constituents’ votes. It seems that every legislator is claiming to be the author of the law that offers a panacea to our healthcare inadequacies.
However, the recent turn of events has exposed the inherent weaknesses of such a populist program: funding and implementation. PhilHealth is asking for the deferment of the UHC’s implementation on the fear that the corporation will be running a deficit by the end of 2020 and will be maintaining that deficit up to 2024. This is an admission that PhilHealth’s current funds are not enough to sustain the program in the next five years. The funding problem is made even more complicated with the admission of an official that PhilHealth’s actuarial life is down to one year.
Casting more uncertainty is the current COVID-19 pandemic, which has drained the government’s funds due to the increase in the number of patients seeking medical care. As earlier emphasized in our previous editorial, PhilHealth’s governance structure is vulnerable to the vagaries of politics and the evils of corruption. Hence, we cannot blame President Duterte to consider the abolition and privatization of PhilHealth out of frustration.
With PhilHealth at the helm of the government’s UHC program, while being governed and managed like business as usual, there is nothing much to expect from the promise of financial protection and access to quality healthcare facilities to all Filipinos. For the UHC to be successful, PhilHealth must reform or perish.