Health dep’t working to achieve universal health care

THE DEPARTMENT of Health (DoH) is working to expand enrollment in the state-owned Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) as part of efforts to achieve universal health care.

The government aims to enroll 14.7 million families or around 58.8 million Filipinos with PhilHealth by the end of the year to cover the so-called “near-poor” aside from the poorest layers of society, as part of the Aquino administration’s Kalusugan Pangkalahatan initiative, Health Secretary Enrique Ona said in the seminar-forum titled “Sustainable and Inclusive Health Market Innovations: Challenges and Opportunities for the Philippines”, held on September 17 in observance of the 11^th Development Policy Research Month (DPRM). Ona’s keynote address was delivered by Health Undersecretary Madeleine Valera.

This year’s theme, “Making Health More Inclusive in a Growing Economy”, puts health in the spotlight, to highlight the pressing need to address inequality in health service delivery.

The Universal Health Care Program is anchored on three areas: (a) financial risk protection through expansion in enrollment and benefit delivery of the National Health Insurance Program; (2) improved access to quality hospitals and health care facilities; and (3) attainment of health–related Millennium Development Goals.

Because of the uneven enrollment of the “near poor”, only around 70 percent of families are able to access hospitals, Ona said. At present, the DoH is cleaning up its data to ensure that the number of enrolled and the number of people covered by PhilHealth do match.

To address inequity in health service delivery, the DoH has deployed human health resources to “geographically disadvantaged areas” that often do not have doctors. Around 21,400 nurses have been deployed across poor areas of the Philippines. “I’d like to say that the rural health care units are the backbone of our primary health care system. We estimate to have birthing facilities at around 70 percent of rural health units by next year, from 57.79 percent in 2010,” Ona bared.

The budget of the Health Facility Enhancement Program that seeks to upgrade rural health units has also significantly increased, he added.

Oscar Picazo, PIDS senior research consultant, said the Philippines can learn a lot from India’s best practices in teleradiology and maternal care.

For his part, Dale Huntington, director of the Asia Pacific Observatory on Health Systems and Policies, said the health market is beset with imperfections, perverse incentives, and market failure.  “It is indeed a broken market. The solution to these problems is finding solutions through innovations,” he said.

Delivering the opening remarks on behalf of PIDS president Gilberto Llanto, PIDS Senior Research Fellow Aniceto Orbeta said this year’s DPRM theme underscores that recent economic growth has not translated to achieving inclusiveness and equity in growth. “Moreover, rising population growth continues to put pressures on existing resources. This is why the role of market innovation in addressing inequality specifically in finding new technology will help us deliver health care better. Health market innovations are critical in improving the supply-side response to the large-scale demand for adequate health financing and service delivery,” he said.

The DPRM is an annual observance spearheaded by PIDS. It highlights the importance of policy research in development planning and policymaking for nationbuilding. The PIDS partners for this year’s DPRM are the National Economic Development Authority, Philippine Information Agency, Civil Service Commission, Presidential Management Staff, Asia Pacific Observatory on Health Systems and Policies, World Health Organization, and Center for Health Market Innovations. (PIDS)