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Overview

The World Health Organization defines health care as an overall maintenance and solution to the health needs of a person, family, or community. It is a system that addresses these health needs are fulfilled through prevention, treatment, rehabilitation, and palliative care. WHO states that the system needs financial stability, well-trained human resources (along with proper salary), proper information/data, and proper maintenance of up to date facilities to be able to deliver quality services, medicine, and researches.

The health care in the Philippines has been defined by the WHO as "fragmented", meaning there's a large gap between the quality and quantity of health services for the poor and the rich. With different reasons such as low budget, low number of man power, or general neglect for the poor, the Philippines has always been unable to keep up with the high standards of healthcare abroad. Comparing data from 2014 between Philippines, United States of America, and Canada, Philippines only spent 4.7% of their GDP on health while USA and Canada spent 17.1% and 10.4%. Efforts are being performed to close the gap. Last February 20, 2019, The Universal Health Care (UHC) Bill was signed into all, aiming to provide proper healthcare services for all.

Current Status

The Department of Health (DOH) is the overall policy-maker and regulator of health services and products in the Philippines. In 2017, Health Secretary Francisco T. Duque III presented his strategic approach (FOURmula One Plus) in running the department’s health reform agenda, and vowed to prioritize the review of the Universal Health Care Bill.

FOURmula One (F1) is a health sector implementation framework currently followed by DOH with a new tagline: Boosting Universal Health Care via FOURmula One Plus (F1 Plus). The framework has four reform components: Health Service Delivery, Health Regulation, Health Finance, and Good Governance in Health. On December 10, 2018, DOH released the Universal Health Care (UHC) and FOURmula 1 Plus (F1) Health Priority Actions for 2019. It includes the policies, programs and plans of the Department of Health to be prioritized to create a strong foundation for the implementation of the Universal Health Care reforms.

National Health Insurance Program

Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth) is a tax-exempt government agency established in 1995 primarily to coordinate and formulate policies regarding health insurance. The National Health Health Insurance Act of 1995 instituted the National Health Insurance Program, and established PhilHealth for the administration of the program. The program provides health insurance coverage for all Filipinos especially citizens who cannot afford health services mainly through premium contributions.

Currently, PhilHealth has five member categories with different package eligibilities: members in the formal economy, members in the informal economy, lifetime members, sponsored members, and indigent members. Monthly contributions from members in the formal economy come equally from the member and employer while contributions from members in the informal economy are based on household earning and assets. Subsidies are provided for sponsored members (i.e. orphans, street children, abandoned and abused minors, out-of-school youth, senior citizens, PWDs and abused women under the care of DSWD), indigent members and members of the informal sector with the lowest income. As of December 31, 2018, PhilHealth has 53,816,468 members and 104,488,979 total beneficiaries including the members’ dependents.

The Universal Health Care law, signed on February 20, 2019, includes provisions of PhilHealth laws including population coverage or membership, services coverage and cost coverage. Aside from the health insurance coverage, the scope of the law also extends to the DOH, institutionalizing its updated financing strategy.

History

The Pre-Spanish Era: Pre 1656

Health care in the Philippines extends as far back as the 15th century. Prior to the arrival of the Spaniards, life and by extension health care, was centered around the animate and inanimate world.

A babaylan would mediate ritual offerings, bridging the gap between spiritual and physical world. Offerings ranged from food to blood sacrifices, as it was believed health could be restored by appealing to the gods.

Traditional Filipino medicinal herbs were used for a wide variety of ailments. Anonas leaves were applied to the stomach for indigestion. Betel-nuts leaves and areca nut leaves were common for injuries, chewed and then applied. Sambong was used to treat kidney stones, rheumatism, coughs, colds, hypertension, and diarrhea .

Spanish historian Miguel de Loarca said the natives were “good physicians and had a remedy for every poison.” The seeds of the igasud were chewed as an antidode for poison. It was renamed Pepita of San Ignacio by the Spanish. Other antidotes include boiled bark of palanigan and the bark of the bagosabak. While the Spanish were impressed by the medicinal knowledge of the Filipinos, they still believed that Western health care would have to be taught to the Filipinos .

The Spanish Era: 1565 –1898

Further Information: Spanish colonial period

As the Spanish were exposed to the unfamiliar environment of the Philippines, they were stricken with foreign disease. To combat this, they created hospitals specially for their health. Some of the first health institutions in the country were handled by Spanish friars.

Hospital Real

Built in Cebu in 1565, Hospital Real was the first hospital in the Philippines. It was relocated to the Manila to accompany the government. The hospital aimed to nurse the Spanish army and navy, those inflicted with disease, and military casualties. Miguel Lopez de Legazpi had permission from King Philip II to set up the hospital exclusively for Spanish soldiers and sailors, it denied Spanish and mestizo women. Although Hospital Real received funding from the Spanish Government, it lacked finances, manpower, and supplies. Administration of Hospital Real was transferred to both the Order of St. Francis and the Confraternity of La Misericordia. Hospital Real was destroyed during an earthquake on June 3, 1863.

Hospital De Naturales

Fray Juan Clemente, a 54-year-old botanist and lay brother, was instrumental in conception of the Hospital De Naturales. He often made medicine for the many people who begged outside the convent, until eventually the number of patients could grew too large for accommodations. Clemente raised funds in order to build better facilities, and he himself constructed two wards of nipa and bamboo.

Budget Allocation and Expenditure

The total government health spending is increasing in nominal terms however, its share in the total Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is unchanging at 3.5 to 3.6 percent which is below the ideal 5 to 6 percent set by the World Health Organisation. In the Philippines, health spending can be accounted by different sources, namely: national and local government subsidies, social insurance, private insurance and private out-of–pocket of households. PhilHealth, the country’s national health insurance program, is governed by the National Health Insurance Act of 1995 or the Republic Act 7875 which replaced the Medicare Act of 1969. PhilHealth is mandated to provide health insurance coverage and ensure affordable, acceptable, available and accessible health care services for all citizens of the Philippines and is mandated to regulate public and private providers through accreditation in compliance with its quality guidelines, standards and procedures. The country's total health expenditure (THE) went up by 11.7 percent, from PhP 471.1 billion in 2012 to PhP 526.3 billion in 2013. This could be mainly attributed to the large amount expended for health care by Private Sources, majority of which (82.6 percent) were disbursed by households (Private Out-of-pocket) for their health needs in 2013. Discounting the effect of inflation, THE grew by 8.5 percent from PhP 362.1 billion in 2012 to PhP 392.8 billion in 2013. With THE growing faster (11.7 percent) than the population (1.7 percent), per capita health expenditure at current prices was registered at PhP 5,360.0 in 2013, a 9.8 percent increase from PhP 4,881.0 in 2012. At constant 2006 prices, per capita health spending rose by 6.6 percent, from PhP 3,752.0 in 2012 to PhP 4,000.0 in 2013.

Public and Private Health Sector

The Department of Health (DOH) lists 1,071 licensed private hospitals, and 721 public hospitals in the Philippines. The Department attends to 70 of the public hospitals while local government units and other state-run agencies manage the rest.

Private hospitals in the country have better technical facilities than the public hospitals, assuring patients of higher quality services than public institutions can provide. Facilities, however, pale in comparison with those in high-end health institutions abroad.

Public Healthcare Systems

Although doctors and nursing staff in public hospitals are highly proficient, public healthcare in the Philippines is highly limited. Because health care providers and health educators are concentrated in urban areas, such as Metro Manila, there is a scarcity of healthcare manpower in the rural areas. This strain on public healthcare is worsened from both treating the large number of Filipinos who rely on public healthcare and from the trend of Filipino medical staff migrating to Western countries. This has resulted in understaffing in many hospitals, resulting in delayed patient treatment.

Philippine Health Insurance Corporation

Public healthcare in the Philippines is administered by the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth), a government owned corporation. Philhealth subsidises a variety of treatments including inpatient and outpatient care. Outpatient benefits would include: non-emergency day surgeries, radiotherapy, hemodialysis, blood transfusion, Primary Care Benefit (PCB), and Expanded Primary Care Benefit (EPCB).

Private Healthcare Systems

Although doctors and nursing staff of public hospitals are as efficient as doctors practicing in the private section, private facilities are much better equipped and treatment is typically faster. Private services are considered to be expensive by most locals, but relatively cheap by standards abroad. The relative affordability of private healthcare can be seen in the increasing popularity of the Philippines as a medical tourism destination.

Drug Prescription

Most pharmacies in the Philippines provide medicines approved by the Bureau of Food and Drugs. While pharmacists in some countries provide drugs to patients even without a doctor’s prescription, pharmacists in the Philippines have to follow strict guidelines on the sale of drugs. According to Republic Act No. 2382 (Philippine Medical Act), only licensed physicians are authorized to prescribe medicines. Similarly, according to the Republic Act No. 5921 (Pharmacy Law), only registered pharmacists can dispense and sell drugs.

Government Initiatives

Universal Health Care

The Universal Health Care (UHC) Bill was signed into law (Republic Act No. 1223) by President Rodrigo Duterte on February 20, 2019. The UHC Bill automatically enrolls all Filipino citizens in the National Health Insurance Program (NHIP), guaranteeing equitable access to quality and affordable health care services for all.

The UHC Act is the culmination of decades of progress and two years of dedicated political and technical work. It is the first UHC Act of its type in the Western Pacific region; this is particularly remarkable considering the strong presence of the private sector in the Filipino health system. The Act prescribes system reforms in accordance with the multiple financing and service delivery mechanisms at work in the Philippines.

In accordance to the Bill, PhilHealth will be renamed Philippine Health Security Corporation (PHSC) to emphasize the agency’s role in providing financial security in health rather than just helping people pay for health services. With this reform, the agency will provide uniform benefits for all; develop a single but comprehensive primary care package including medicines; create supplementary coverage by Health Maintenance Organizations (HMOs) and private health insurance; provide network-based licensing, contracting, and accreditation of facilities.

PhilHealth members will be identified as either a Direct Contributor or Indirect Contributor (non-contributors). Direct Contributors are paying members who are by default deducted for the premium through their payroll. Indirect Contributors are non-paying members who will be fully subsidized through tax collections.

The Bill will also utilize different agencies to deliver different healthcare services according to their classified scope. The Department of Health (DOH) will conduct the population-based health interventions, which include: financing of population-based services, improvement of doctor-to-patient ratio, increase of the number of hospital beds and equipment, and the establishment of hospitals in remote areas. PhilHealth will focus on the individual-based health interventions, which include: financing of individual-based level services, and delivery of individual hospitalization, rehabilitation, and emergency healthcare provision.

Medical Tourism

The Philippine Medical Tourism Program (PMTP) is a DOH project, which intends to make the country a global leader in “providing quality health care for all through universal health care.”

The program will further improve the Philippines’ healthcare manpower capabilities and facilities in both public and private sector to make the Philippines the country of choice for health care. The program aims to attract more visitors from abroad availing of medical services while simultaneously ensuring that the quality of currently offered services are suitable by Global Health Care standards. With the program, the local health care industry can generate substantial income to boost the Philippine economy.