The Philippines has extended mandatory national health insurance by PhilHealth to all citizens aged 60 or over, regardless of social or economic status, as the country moves towards universal healthcare coverage.
IHS Life Sciences perspective | |
Significance | The Philippines has signed into law Republic Act 10645, making coverage from the national health insurance scheme Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) mandatory to all Filipinos aged 60 or older, regardless of social or economic status. |
Implications | The new law almost doubles the number of senior citizens covered by PhilHealth to around 6 million from around 3.9 million and comes amid the Philippines' moves to expand universal healthcare coverage. |
Outlook | The expanded coverage is expected to cost the Philippine government an additional USD80 million annually, which would be partly funded by a higher "Sin Tax"; however, execution will be key to ensuring all senior citizens particularly in poorer areas are adequately informed of how to access healthcare coverage and basic health services. |
The Philippines has extended mandatory health insurance coverage by Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) to all Filipinos aged 60 or older. Until now, only indigent residents had been granted coverage under PhilHealth. The law expands upon Republic Act 9994 – the Expanded Senior Citizens Act (2010) – which covered only indigent senior citizens, to include all Filipinos aged 60 or older regardless of social or economic status.
President Benigno Aquino has now signed into law Republic Act 10645, which almost doubles the number of senior citizens covered by PhilHealth to around 6 million from around 3.9 million.
The expanded coverage is expected to cost the Philippine government an additional PHP5.2 billion (USD115.9 million) annually, which would be partly funded by a higher "Sin Tax" on tobacco and alcohol, according to local media reports quoting government officials.
At the end of 2013, 76.90 million Filipinos were covered by PhilHealth, including 31.27 million registered members and 45.63 million dependants. PhilHealth received premium contributions of PHP2 billion last year, in addition to a government subsidy of PHP12.612 billion. Last year, PhilHealth paid PHP55.559 billion in benefits.
Outlook and implications
The development is a key positive to the remaining 2.16 million senior citizens in the Philippines not currently covered by national health insurance. It brings the country a step further in its aim of introducing universal healthcare coverage by 2016 (see Philippines: 23 January 2014: Philippines extends PhilHealth coverage to 80% and Philippines: 24 June 2013: Philippine president signs law to introduce universal health insurance).
However, effective implementation will be key to ensuring the remaining senior citizens, particularly in poorer areas, are adequately informed of how to access healthcare coverage and basic health services. As the the Philippine government works to expand its healthcare coverage and boost health insurance for the poor, one issue has been co-ordination of agencies and spreading of information in rural areas (see Philippines: 16 October 2013: Chronic disease maintenance medicines to be included under PhilHealth). Another area of focus is expected to be efficiency, as the government tries to reduce waste as part of overall healthcare reforms.