Albay Rep. Joey Sarte Salceda, chair of the House Ways and Means Committee, said he is exploring a separate insurance fund under Philhealth to address the financial gap and help ensure senior citizens’ healthcare, especially their medicine costs, other basic necessities and “little pleasures in dignified old age.”
Salceda, who recently succeeded in crafting laws to expand the benefits of SCs and persons with disabilities (PWD), said the problem of access to better elderly healthcare is structural, brought about by two factors including the increasing need for specialized services and the reduced personal incomes due to retirement.
“Around P1.6 trillion or 18 percent of the estimated P9.1 trillion needed to ensure a more decent life for all seniors remain deficient. We need to find ways to address this elderly welfare financial gap, but it should be tackled alongside other issues in SCs’ welfare,” said Salceda.
“That is why, together with SC Party-list Rep. Rodolfo Ordanes, and National Unity Party-list Rep. Alfel Bascug, representing PWDs, I have been working on issues concerning all aspects of senior citizen needs, not just health,” he said.
He said that “within the 18-percent gap, there are chronic conditions that require primary and supportive healthcare, where Philhealth primarily devotes its resources.”
“The unfilled gap is an acute or catastrophic health care issue. Without insurance, such medical expenses can be ruinous to ordinary families with senior citizens. The very limited case rates under Philhealth’s existing packages simply won’t do. A medical care cost becomes financially catastrophic when it endangers the family’s ability to maintain its customary standard of living,” he said.
“I am exploring a separate insurance fund under Philhealth to address this gap. The risk profile is different, so the fund also has to be different. The fiscal resources for health are not yet exhausted,” Salceda said.