Presidential Spokesman Harry Roque on Thursday urged the Senate to heed President Rodrigo Duterte’s call to pass its version of the Universal Health Care Bill, a measure the Palace spokesman stressed was already passed in September last year by the House of Representatives.
In his radio interviews on Thursday, Roqu—who authored the UHC Bill and was still a member of the House when it passed the measure on third reading—urged the Senate to take its cue from the President, who not only certified the bill as urgent earlier this month, but reiterated his support for the bill in his third State of the Nation Address last Monday.
“The President has sent a clear, loud, and unequivocal message regarding universal healthcare to Congress, and the House has done its part; it’s time for the Senate to do the same,” the former legislator said.
In his Sona, the President acknowledged that “much needs to be done to improve our health care system, which remains highly fragmented, resulting in disparity in health outcomes between the rich and the poor in the urban areas and rural.“
To address this, Duterte said it was necessary to “pool all our resources for health services under the [PhilHealth]; institutionalize primary care as a prerequisite to access a higher level of healthcare, and supplement human resource gaps of the LGUs through a National Health Workforce Support System.”
“These will ensure that every Filipino family gets the appropriate, affordable, and quality health services in appropriate facilities and will be protected from financial burden due to sickness,” added the President.
“To this end, I urge the speedy passage of the Universal Health Care Bill authored by Former Representative Harry Roque.“
Roque reminded listeners that the measure was a groundbreaking piece of legislature as it would provide health security to all Filipinos even if they could not afford to pay the premiums.
Under HB 5784, the version passed by the HOR, the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) will be known as the Philippine Health Security Corp. and will be the sole purchaser of health services in the country.
The bill likewise provides for the adoption and institutionalization of a periodic Health Technology Assessment and the creation of the Health Technology Assessment Council.
HTA refers to the process of examining or reporting properties of a medical technology used in healthcare, including safety, efficacy, feasibility, and indications for use; cost-effectiveness; as well as social, economic, and ethical consequences, whether intended or unintended.
The bill mandates the “income retention” of Department of Health facilities, which will authorize government hospitals to use their entire income to improve their services.