
HOUSE Ways and Means Committee chairman and Albay Rep. Joey Salceda is eyeing a more aggressive health insurance system for senior citizens.
In a statement Wednesday, Salceda said he is exploring a separate insurance fund for acute or catastrophic health care among the elderly.
“The unfilled gap is in acute or catastrophic health care. Without insurance, such medical expenses can be ruinous to ordinary families with senior citizens. The very limited case rates under PhilHealth’s (Philippine Health Insurance Corporation) existing packages simply won’t do,” the Albay solon said.
He said the Department of Health’s (DOH) around P40 billion unspent funds can be allocated to finance senior citizen healthcare in addition to PhilHealth’s excess reserves.
“The risk profile is different so the fund also has to be different. The fiscal resources for health are not yet exhausted. The absorptive capacity of the DOH to spend it in full typically falls short. There’s usually around P40 billion in excess funds that can be used to support a more aggressive seniors health insurance system,” Salceda said.
He said the primary issue in senior citizen welfare is how to address increasing needs for specialized services while balancing decreasing personal incomes due to retirement.
According to the Albay solon, the average senior makes around P3,000 per month, which keeps around 47 percent of them below the poverty line.
“The welfare gap –or what we need to give all seniors a decent life– is around P9.1 trillion,” he said.
Salceda said around 18 percent of the welfare gap or about P1.64 trillion is the healthcare financing gap.
Within that healthcare financing gap, he said, PhilHealth already devotes its resources to primary and supportive healthcare, but the unfilled gap on catastrophic healthcare expenditure needs to be addressed.
“The problem of access to senior citizen healthcare is structural, but it should be addressed alongside other issues with senior citizen welfare,” he added.