A HEALTH reform advocate on Friday called on the government to provide better health care funding and benefits for the middle class, who he says are unfairly burdened by taxes and premiums but left with inadequate support.
In an exclusive interview with The Manila Times, Dr. Anthony Leachon said the middle class is bearing the brunt of rising medical costs without receiving fair government health benefits.
“The middle class are the ones paying heavily on taxes. Their salaries are not that big, and they have other obligations aside from health, like education and daily expenses,” Leachon said.
“I see this for the last two years, the admissions in the hospital have been dwindling,” he said, because people simply cannot afford to be confined.
Despite employees paying a mandatory 5 percent of their monthly salary to the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth), the middle class finds itself with limited access to comprehensive health benefits, which focus on the poor.
The problem has worsened due to the reduction of government support for PhilHealth and the increasing allocation for the Department of Health’s (DOH) Medical Assistance to Indigent and Financially Incapacitated Patients (Maifip) program.
The program aims to provide financial aid for hospital bills, medicines, diagnostics and procedures to indigent Filipinos. It also covers expenses exceeding PhilHealth benefits.
Leachon described the P51-billion funding for Maifp as “disturbing,” since there are still no clear rules on how the money will be used after the DOH announced that guarantee letters are no longer needed to avail of the program.
While the DOH promised to release updated guidelines for Maifip by mid-February, questions remain, he said.
“Why approve P51 billion without any clear guidelines?” he said.
Leachon argued that the reliance on Maifip undermines the Universal Health Care Law, which mandates PhilHealth as the country’s single government health insurer.
“If you pool Maifip and other assistance funds into PhilHealth, then everyone — poor, middle class or rich — can enjoy zero balance billing,” he said.
The DOH previously said that it plans to expand PhilHealth’s benefits to its direct contributors or middle-income members after meeting with Executive Secretary Ralph Recto.