With improved access to health care, the under-five child mortality rate in the Philippines decreased by 12 per cent between 2008 and 2012 and by 28 per cent in 2015. In 1997 the Government of the Philippines launched the Philhealth Programme in order to improve the health insurance structure for all Filipinos, including free health insurance for vulnerable groups. The Philhealth Programme was introduced under the Republic Act 7875, signed into law in 1995, which set up the Philippine National Health Corporation (PNHC) to manage implementation of the scheme.

Philhealth has been designed to provide access to health care for the underprivileged, the sick, older persons, persons with disabilities, women and children. Those eligible are identified on a means tested basis by Local Health Insurance Offices under the direction of the PNHC. Those in the informal sector are exempt from making contributions to the scheme. For the formal sector, contributions are shared between employees and employers with employee contributions not exceeding 3 per cent of salary. Claimants are entitled to a comprehensive package of health care services, including inpatient care, with subsidies for hospital room and board, medications, laboratories, operating room and professional fees, as well as outpatient coverage for day surgeries, dialysis and cancer treatment procedures. In 2016, 91 per cent of the population of the Philippines had membership in Philhealth.

While Philhealth has made advancements in providing health care to all Filipinos, the programme has realised some challenge in increasing the extent of coverage. To this aim, lawmakers passed the Republic Act 10606, in 2013, which extends coverage of Philhealth to those with no means of income or whose income is subsidised. The programme has also undergone some financial restructuring resulting in increased premiums for the formal sector in order to ensure financial viability. The continued strengthening of the Philhealth programme represents political will for the development of a social protection floor in the Philippines, and ensures that the State leads in the facilitation of access to health care for all.

Further Reading:

• Congress of the Philippines (1994). An Act Instituting a National Health Insurance Programme for All Filipinos and Establishing the Philippines Health Insurance Corporation for the Purpose. Accessed from: http://www.philhealth.gov.ph/about_us/ra7875.pdf on 26 November 2013.