Universal healthcare minus the spin

If physicians don’t appear as angry or noisy as other groups of people who love our country, it is not because we are indifferent.

- MA. DOMINGA PADILLA

Many of us are also among the walking wounded. And given the nature of our work, we feel the pain of betrayal, not just from flood control projects but from our healthcare system as well. We are the ground troops. We know the truth. But we need to rise above our pain for the sake of our patients who are ailing and come to us for healing.

One source of dismay is when we hear unsubstantiated claims that paint a deceptively rosy picture of the state of our healthcare system.

I was recently asked to be a resource person at a roundtable discussion organized by a prestigious school of government. The reason for the gathering was the President’s statement that “our country has achieved 80% of universal healthcare (UHC).” Those in the know were generally agape upon hearing this because we are in touch with reality. None of those in the group knew what this statement meant.

Did it refer to the percentage of Filipinos enrolled in PhilHealth? Did it refer to the zero balance billing system being practiced in Department of Health (DoH)-retained and select government hospitals? Certainly it could not refer to the overall goals of UHC, where out-of-pocket expenses of private patients admitted to healthcare Institutions would be reduced to 20-30% as a general rule, and where all Filipinos would have access to outpatient primary healthcare clinics of their choice for free annual checkups, tests and free basic maintenance medication.