HOUSE Ways and Means Chair Joey Sarte Salceda (Albay, 2nd district) is pushing for a separate senior citizens insurance program under the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (Philhealth) to cover catastrophic health expenditures.
Salceda manifested the proposal in his sponsorship speech of House Bill No. 52, or the Philhealth Reform Act, which the Committee on Health discussed today.
“Our proposed framework is to allow the Philhealth to create a catastrophic health insurance program for senior citizens on top of the government’s sponsorship of coverage for Senior Citizens,” Salceda said in his speech.
Salceda pointed out that the program is necessary because “seniors tend to pay a larger share of the hospital bill out-of-pocket.”
Data from Philhealth claims, as cited by Salceda, shows that only about a third of seniors’ hospital bills from Level 3 private hospitals is provided some level of insurance support and subsidy, making them the least supported sector as a share of total hospital costs.
“Kung sino pa ang walang pera, siya pa ang malaki ang kailangang bayaran,” Salceda said of senior citizens.
Catastrophic health expenditures are those that take a significant portion of the patient’s household income. Such expenditures include those for cancer treatments and conditions that require major hospitalization.
Salceda adds that “the median reported individual or conjugal income is PhP 3,000 per month and 46% are living below the poverty line in 2018 (according to the Longitudinal Study of Ageing and Health in the Philippines (LSAHP)).”
“This results in a welfare gap of around P9.1 trillion to give senior citizens a decent old age. Around 18%, or P1.67 trillion, is the healthcare financing gap for quality care for senior citizens. I’m not saying we should cover the whole thing. But certainly there are ways to finance the gap.”
Salceda also pointed out that while “The share of households experiencing catastrophic health expenditures in the Philippines is declining (appears to coincide with higher fiscal resources for health due to Sin Tax Law)… catastrophic health expenditure tends to hit senior households the most.”
Salceda is proposing that the “carved out” insurance scheme be funded partly by new sin taxes and by growth in revenues of the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation and the Philippine Charity and Sweepstakes Office. Salceda also says that “the Philhealth’s excess funds can also support this new program.”
“We have a duty to provide dignified old age and quality care for senior citizens. They didn’t get the best cards in life. So, they didn’t get to save enough for pension and elderly health care. But there are financial solutions to this fundamental problem of inequity.”
