PH lags Asean in healthcare spending

The Philippines continues to lag behind its neighbors in Asean in terms of per capita spending on healthcare, due largely to the lack of accessibility to and affordability of medical services in the country.

Ivan Alexi R. Arota, Philippine country manager of GE Healthcare, noted the wide gap between the healthcare per capita spending in the Philippines, which stood at $329 as of end 2014, and that of Singapore, whose total expenditure on health per capita was around $4,000 for the same period.

Data from the World Health Organization showed Brunei, Malaysia, Thailand and even Vietnam outpacing the Philippines’ per capita spending as of 2014.

“It’s a big gap and it shows we still have a long way to go in terms of healthcare spending and this is mostly due to lack of funding. Healthcare in the Philippines is mostly ‘out-of-pocket’ and that capacity is dependent on the economy. About 55 percent of healthcare spending in the Philippines is out-of-pocket,” Arota said in an interview on Friday.

About 80 percent of the Philippine population is covered by Philhealth, but coverage is limited and does not include outpatient services.

Private healthcare maintenance organizations (HMOs), meanwhile, cover less than 10 percent of the population, according to Arota.

Arota thus stressed the need for the government to pour more investments into widening access to healthcare.

It would also serve the government well to increase enrollment in Philhealth to create a bigger fund pool.

There is reason to be optimistic these days, fortunately, as the Duterte administration has said it would prioritize healthcare.