Nearly all Filipinos agreed that the government must provide free medicines for the people.
This was shown in a Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey conducted on December 12 – 16, 2021 to determine the people’s preference on access to medicines.
The SWS research indicated that 96 percent of the adult respondents said the government should “definitely” provide medicine free of charge for the people, while 78 percent were a bit unsure with “should definitely, and 17 percent quite undecided with “should probably” answers.
The SWS also noted that there was a very strong agreement across demographics, ranging from net +89 to +98.
The survey which covered 1,440 adult respondents nationwide also revealed the issues that should be addressed to lower or do away with the high out-of-pocket spending of Filipinos when it comes to healthcare.
Out-of-pocket spending is the cost of medical care that families pay directly out of their own money.
With the people paying mostly for their own medicines, the survey found that drugs ranked as the most burdensome healthcare expense, followed by payment for doctor’s fees, laboratory fees, and hospital room.
It has been estimated that for every P100 spent on medicines, P85 is shouldered by the patient’s family, or shared by voluntary private insurance.
The country’s private share in medicine expenses was one of the highest in the world compared to Malaysia with 45 percent; South Korea with 42 percent; New Zealand, 32 percent, and Thailand, nine percent.
Reflective of the desire to eliminate out-of-pocket expenses, the survey reported the high preference of Filipinos for free and subsidized medicines as the most helpful way of obtaining medicines for grave illnesses.
At present, the government provides subsidized or free medicines for certain diseases, but would need to be expanded to provide more support to patients, and cover more health conditions especially for economically challenged patients.
The respondents ranked “guaranteed PhilHealth financial subsidy to cover full or a portion of medication expenses” as the top choice (average rank score of 1.92, with 1 as the highest) closely followed by “Acquire free medications procured by the government from public hospitals, health centers and government pharmacies” (1.97).
Ranked third as the most helpful way to obtain medicines is to “Fully pay for the total cost of the prescribed medicines at a discounted price” (2.91) while fourth in the list is to “Fully pay for the total cost of the prescribed medicines first, and ask government to reimburse the full amount after” (3.19).
Forum organizers namely the European Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines (ECCP), Medicines Transparency Alliance (MeTA) Philippines, Stratbase ADR Institute (ADRi), UHC Watch and the Pharmaceutical and Healthcare Association of the Philippines (PHAP) agreed that increased government investment for medicines is necessary to improve its medicine expense share which is now only at 15 percent.
As the country struggled with COVID-19 over the past two years, the SWS survey likewise found that among Filipinos, the efficacy of the medicine is the most important attribute of a COVID-19 drug.
Efficacy is the ability of the medicine to cure the patient. This was followed by affordability, safety, accessibility, and availability of supply.
The survey, commissioned by the PHAP, also named the most important areas where government should collaborate with pharmaceutical companies. On top of the list for partnership is “Spreading knowledge and understanding of healthcare” (2.79), followed by “Solving the problems brought about by the pandemic” (2.81), “Ensuring the availability of medicines” (2.83), “Helping to make medicines free, or at least affordable and accessible” (3.14), and “Undertaking research on and promoting the development of new medicines in the country” (3.42).
The survey questions were commissioned by the PHAP and implemented within the SWS December 12-16, 2021 national survey using face-to-face interviews of 1,440 adults (18 years old and above) nationwide: 360 each in Balance Luzon, Metro Manila, the Visayas, and Mindanao. The sampling error margins are ±2.6 percent for national percentages and ±5.2 percent for Luzon, Metro Manila, the Visayas, and Mindanao.