THE Private Sector Advisory Council-Healthcare Sector (PSAC Healthcare) has urged President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to expand health care access to vulnerable sectors of society.
”Our goal is to make health care more affordable and accessible to every Filipino by strengthening PhilHealth benefits, improving access to medicines and bringing health care services closer to communities, we want to help families get the care they need without worrying as much about the cost,” said Paolo Borromeo, PSAC Healthcare Sector lead, during the 11th Healthcare Sector Meeting in Malacañang.
To reduce out-of-pocket expenses, the group suggests expanding PhilHealth’s Yaman ng Kalusugan Program (Yakap) and Guaranteed and Accessible Medications for Outpatient Treatment (Gamot) programs.
As of Oct. 8, PhilHealth’s Yakap program has benefited 22.42 million across 4,677 accredited clinics. Meanwhile, its Gamot program had supplied covered outpatient medicines to 1.28 million through 3,483 participating pharmacies.
The group backed PhilHealth’s digital transformation via the eGovPH application, which allows members to check benefits, locate providers and monitor medicine coverage more conveniently. PhilHealth reported paying P331 billion in claims as of Oct. 10, with full-year projections reaching P425 billion.
To tackle hurdles in medicine distribution — especially in areas lacking physical pharmacies — PSAC-Healthcare proposed a pilot sandbox program running from November 2026 to January 2027.
The group called for faster drug and vaccine approvals by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
To date, the FDA cleared 6,971 product registration applications in the Center for Drug Regulation and Research between January and September 2026, an increase from 4,674 during the same period in 2025, with further reductions in backlogs encouraged.
