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Health expert says PhilHealth beneficiaries outnumber those from other medical aid program

Dr. Tony Dans of the Healthcare Professionals Alliance Against Covid-19 (HPAAC) tells The Manila Times on Dec. 18 that Filipinos who are supposed to benefit from the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation’s (PhilHealth) benefits outnumber the current beneficiaries of the Medical Assistance for Indigent and Financially Incapacitated Patients (MAIFIP) funds. Lawmakers during the Bicameral Conference Committee increased the proposed budget for the MAIFIP to P51 billion, up from the previous P24 billion proposed. House Committee on Appropriations Chairman Mikaela Suansing argued that if funding for MAIFIP were slashed, the 3.3 million who benefited from the DOH program last year would be cut to 1.1 million. HPAAC argued that the increase in MAIFIP funds undermines the Universal Health Care (UHC) Act, which designates PhilHealth as the principal payer for health services.

VIDEO BY ALLEN LIMOS

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Transcript
00:00So yun na lang ang timbangin natin, diba?
00:048 million Filipinos do not have the essential insurance
00:09to pay, to avail of basic PhilHealth benefits, diba?
00:16So, I think that's an easy decision, diba?
00:21We need to put the money where it helps more people
00:25And pwede naman din yun if we improve the PhilHealth services
00:31Pwede tayo mag-isip ng how do we fund catastrophic health expenses
00:36Kasi yun yung pinutulungan ng my people
00:38So parang, pero hindi na sila dapat magmakaawa
00:42PhilHealth should think of a way na, okay, ito ibig sabihin ng catastrophic
00:47Hindi na dapat, dapat nakikita na natin yung mga tao
00:50Sobrang nakihirap sa gastos
00:52And we need to put them in a place where they can avail of services
00:57Yun nga yung principle of no balance billing
01:00Ang no balance billing is mandated by the National Health Insurance Act
01:06So, if you are, at pinangako yan ni BBM
01:11Nung State of the Nation, diba?
01:14Pag ikaw mahirap, patakunta ka sa, ano, government hospital
01:19Or doon sa, di ba yung private hospitals
01:2310% of their beds should be for indigent patients
01:27Pag nakunta ka doon, no balance ang bilig mo
01:30That will help patients facing catastrophic expenses
01:33Pero sir, how do you think it will go about po doon sa pagta-transition
01:37Say yung 1 million, no?
01:39Sige, in a make-believe world, na-defund na nga yung my people
01:42And we direct it to PhilHealth
01:44Paano po kayo magta-transition yung yung 1 million beneficiaries ng my people
01:47So gradual reduction until it disappears
01:51Bec, I'll go back to your question with a question
01:54You said kanina na, they claimed that there were 3.3 million beneficiaries of my people
02:03And you were asking what will happen to the 2 million if only, kung binabaan siya at magiging 1 million na lang yung target beneficiaries
02:13Ang question ko, and I don't have the answer, that's why I'm asking you
02:17You might have the answer
02:18Yung 3 million na yun
02:20Kasi ay, there was this slide kanina presenting the KIN files
02:25Yung 3 million, do we have this aggregated data?
02:30How many?
02:31O 7 million
02:33House chair, Swan Singh said, indigent
02:37Yung nag-increase ko kasi sila
02:401.27 million indigent patients
02:43So, sabi niya, 1.27 of the 3 million lang ang indigent
02:51Hindi ko po sure kung per house
02:54Ang nabigyan
02:55Kasi, the question of Alan kanina was
03:00Ang question ni Alan was
03:023.3 million, that was what you said, no?
03:053.3 million ang nag-benefit from
03:08Maifif
03:10From last year
03:12From last year
03:13From last year
03:14And, but of the 3.3 million, only
03:161.27 is klarong indigent
03:20Yun ang sinabi niya, nang galing sila ng increase
03:23Sabi niya, this will benefit
03:25I'm just following the, ano
03:26Million indigent
03:27So, therefore
03:28Meron silang binigyan na 2 million na hindi indigent?
03:32Logically?
03:33Yes, so
03:34Mga in
03:35Financially
03:36Politically indigent?
03:37Financially
03:39Financially incapacitated
03:41Kasi kahit di ka mahirap
03:44Pwedeng incapacitated ka
03:46Kaya nasa
03:48But
03:49That becomes
03:50That's the part battle
03:51Kasi
03:52Paano naging
03:53Paano naging
03:54Who defines the
03:55Financial
03:56Indigency
03:57Ano yung
03:58Qualifications
03:59And
04:00It becomes very discretionary
04:02Again, going back to that slide
04:04Now if you look at it
04:05Yung poorest of the poor
04:07Yung support niya
04:08Was only 10,000
04:10But the richest
04:11Was 17,000 higher
04:15So
04:16Hindi ba siya
04:17If you just follow the logic that this is a
04:20An ayuda to the poorest of the poor
04:22Shouldn't it be baliktad?
04:24Shouldn't there be a higher support value
04:27To the poorest of the poor?
04:29And not the other way around?
04:31I mean, I have
04:33Personally, I have no issue about
04:36Maifip, no?
04:37Personally, I have been
04:38A lot of my patients
04:40Have accessed it
04:41Benefited
04:42Benefited
04:43Benefited from it
04:44Even my
04:45My family
04:46Because
04:47I was able to access
04:50Assistance
04:51When my father got diagnosed
04:52With brain
04:53Brain cancer
04:54And
04:55Laubos yung lahat ng
04:56Determint niya
04:57For that
04:58And then
04:59We had to
05:00So
05:10To
05:11To
05:23To
05:25To
05:27To
05:27To
05:29To
05:31To
05:32To
05:33To
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