PhilHealth

Underperforming PhilHealth favored over public services in gov’t health budget – IBON
September 21, 2022
The Marcos Jr administration’s proposed 2023 budget neglects direct health services and programs that are accessible for ordinary Filipinos. Instead, it’s choosing to allot even more funds for health privatization and the underperforming PhilHealth.

PhilHealth’s slow COVID claims processing
August 12, 2021
DOH wasn’t just underspending or spending wastefully — PhilHealth has also been helping too few and too slowly. Philhealth only paid for a fraction of 17.4 million COVID tests and over 100,000 hospitalizations since last year.

Telltale signs that health care in the Philippines is not universal
October 5, 2020
COMMENTARY BY CASEY SALAMANCA
By hyping UHC, government pays lip service to the Filipino people’s right to health. The right to health pertains to a person’s overall well-being.

Spend on Public Health
September 29, 2020
INFOPOST
While PhilHealth gets the second biggest chunk of the health budget, households still shoulder over half of health expenses.

PhilHealth Failure
September 22, 2020
The second biggest chunk of the proposed 2021 health budget, or Php71.4 billion, goes to PhilHealth. While noting recent corruption controversies in the agency, it is difficult to reconcile the unchanged budget with increasing health expenses of Filipinos.

Universal Health Neglect
July 25, 2020

Beyond capacity and overwhelming incompetence
July 19, 2020
BY MARICAR PIEDAD
The Duterte administration must act now and prevent the health system from collapsing and the Filipino people from succumbing to both the pandemic and poverty.

COVID-19 and the Philippine Healthcare System
March 20, 2020
BY JOSE LORENZO LIM
Earlier this year amid the growing threat of the COVID-19 virus, DOH Secretary Duque said that the Philippines does not have a weak healthcare system. But is the country’s health system really “not weak” and ready for this pandemic?

Sin taxes, UHC to fund privatization of health services–IBON
June 1, 2019
Research group IBON said that government must allot a higher budget for public health services rather than fund private health providers through the Universal Health Care (UHC) Act. Also known as Republic Act (RA) 11223, the UHC Act ostensibly aims to provide all Filipinos with promotive, preventive, curative, rehabilitative, and palliative health services “without causing […]