MARKET MONITOR
One of the best gifts that our legislators can give the Filipino people this Christmas is the passage of the Universal Health Coverage (UHC) bill that would ensure equal access to affordable health care services.
Both the Senate and the House of Representatives have passed their own UHC versions which are currently undergoing a process of reconciliation by a bicameral conference committee. The reconciled version could easily be signed by President Rodrigo R. Duterte into law since he himself certified it as urgent last July.
Under the proposed legislative measure, all Filipinos will be placed under the National Health Insurance Program (NHIP) that would effectively expand the coverage of the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (Philhealth). It would allow everyone to avail of primary health services or medical procedures, including free consultation, laboratory testing, and diagnostic fees for regular checkups, X-rays, and cancer risk screenings.
The latter is quite familiar to me, after my father recently underwent surgery and was diagnosed to have stage 1 colon cancer. I found out that Philhealth’s coverage for cancer patients was almost negligible, whereas the 20% senior citizens’ discount substantially reduced his hospital bills. Fortunately his doctors and nurses at The Medical City Ortigas were very efficient and professional, thus hastening his recovery through a program called ERAS or enhanced recovery after surgery.
More fortunate are lung cancer patients across all stages of the disease. They now have an online resource portal known as “Living With Lung Cancer” or LVNG for short. The Philippine Society of Medical Oncology (PSMO), in partnership with global pharmaceutical firm AstraZeneca and local support groups, launched LVNG last month to help Filipino patients and their loved ones rise above this challenging condition.
According to the Globocan 2018 report of the International Agency for Research on Cancer
(IARC), lung cancer is the top cancer killer worldwide with almost 2.1 million incidences and 1.76 million fatalities so far this year. Majority of such deaths involved cigarette smoking, but nonsmokers are also at serious risk.
IARC’s findings were corroborated by a 2015 study published by the European Respiratory Journal, noting that about 25% of lung cancer incidences are not linked to smoking and that the rate of never-smokers diagnosed with the disease has been increasing. The American Cancer Society disclosed that second-hand smoke, diesel exhaust, asbestos exposure, radioactive radon gas, and chemicals released by burning coal products are some of the leading causes of lung cancer.
New patients tend to think that their illness is a hopeless case, leaving them with a sense of isolation that worsens their anxiety over the diagnosis. LVNG addresses this stigma by dispelling myths that prevent lung cancer patients from seeking proper treatment and seeing hope in their condition. It likewise empowers patients with information that enables them to reach out to medical professionals for advice on treatment options.
PSMO President Dr. Mary Claire Soliman said: “Standard evidence-based medicine is the way to go in treatment. I understand how the promise of alternative medicines may be tempting, especially with claims that they do not have side effects. The fact is that there is very little evidence to support their claims.”
Chemotherapy is usually perceived as the only treatment for cancer. However, there are new options depending on the patient’s diagnosis, preference, and recommendations from the health care team. Surgery to remove affected lung tissues, radiation therapy, and targeted drug therapy are among the latest options based on biopsy results.
A breakthrough treatment is the generic pill Osimertinib, an oral tablet from a class of drugs called tyrosine kinase inhibitors that target tumors with epidermal growth factor mutations. Its trade name is Tagrisso, which has shown better precision at stopping disease progression and improving patient survival.
Together with the impending enactment of the UHC law, such medical developments have inspired hope among Filipinos in the face of disease and those who care for them.