Economist group calls for viable UHC funding
AN ECONOMICS research and advocacy group called for a sustainable source of financing amid the recent passage of the Universal Health Care Law that President Rodrigo Duterte signed on Wednesday.
“We celebrate the passage of the UHC Law. It is a long overdue reform of the health care system and is critical in making quality health services accessible and affordable to all Filipinos,” Jo-Ann Diosana of the Action for Economic Reforms (AER) told TIMES.
“However, we are concerned that the Senate is only looking at band-aid solutions to address the gap
in financing,” she said.
In a presentation of the AER sourced from the Department of Health (DOH), the UHC needs an amount of P257 billion for the first year of implementation of the law that grants health coverage to all Filipinos.
However, the only available budget consolidated from the 2019 DOH Budget, 2019 National Subsidy for PhilHealth Premiums, Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office, Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation is at P189 billion.
This means a P68 billion financing gap.
“Bulk of the allocation for the implementation of UHC is for the PhilHealth coverage of new members and services, such as check-up, medicines, and laboratory tests, and the additional health care workers,” Diosana stated.
“These items are not one-time expenses but are recurring ones that would need sustainable funding,” she added.
Realigning funds from another agency is not only unreliable but also risks the implementation of equally important programs of other agencies,” she added.
To address the gap, according to Diosana, the passage of the higher sin tax bill would be urgent.
“This is why we are urging the Senate to immediately pass higher taxes on tobacco and alcohol because these have been proven as reliable sources of financing for health. New programs require new sources of financing; there’s no other way around it,” she said.