Health Secretary Francisco Duque said measures to increase the tax on tobacco is a win-win policy for Universal Health Care and the Filipino people.
“We need to ensure that there is sustained funding to achieve the intentions of the reform,” also said Duque.
“We encourage our legislators, especially those supporting UHC, to also push for the increase of tobacco taxes,” Health Secretary Francisco T. Duque III explained.
Duque assured that the Department of Health strongly supports the bills filed by Senator Emmanuel Pacquiao (SB 1599) and Senator JV Ejercito (SB 1605), seeking to further increase the unitary excise tax of cigarettes.
With the passage of the Sin Tax Law of 2012, tobacco use prevalence significantly decreased among adults from 29.7 percent in 2009 to 23.8 percent in 2015 (Global Adult Tobacco Survey).
The proposed increase in tobacco taxes is expected to reduce the burden of non-communicable diseases by further decreasing smoking prevalence among Filipino adults up to 18.6 percent -15.7percent.
Aside from the greater health benefits of substantially increasing tobacco taxes, additional revenues to be generated from the proposed increase are in a bid to support and fund the UHC reform in the country.
“We encourage our legislators, especially those supporting UHC, to also push for the increase of tobacco taxes,” Duque said.
He noted that the proposed UHC and tobacco tax reform would comprehensively address health needs of the population.
Last 23 July 2018, the UHC bill was declared as a priority of the Duterte administration during the President’s State of the Nation Address. Its passage will help address the pressing issues on the access to quality and affordable health services by the Filipino people.
The proposed reform particularly intends to protect all Filipinos from the high cost of care through PhilHealth, enhance service delivery by strengthening primary care, and improve regulatory and governance capacities within the health sector.
The DOH also thanked legislators from both the Senate and House of Representatives who expressed their support to immediately pass the UHC bill while also emphasizing the need to increase tobacco tax as a major source of funding to make UHC feasible.
Ejercito, meanwhile, said that all Filipinos will soon be covered by free health insurance that would result to savings for households in terms of medical expenses and better facilities in state hospitals.
Ejercito, who chairs the committee on health and demography, said the Senate is expected to approve the Universal Healthcare Bill anytime this month after President Duterte appealed to Congress to pass the measure.
“It’s a great honor to craft this landmark bill–along with our fellow servants in government–in the name of each Filipino, who deserve to receive efficient, sufficient, accessible, and affordable health care from the government,” Ejercito said.
He said under the bill, each Filipino is automatically covered or in the National Health Insurance Program as a direct or indirect contributor.
The bill also expanded the service coverage and strengthened the preventive and promotive aspects of health service.
“Our primary objective is to guarantee equal access to quality and affordable health services for each Filipino, along with ensuring that such will not be a financial burden.”
He said the committee conducted hearings and consultations throughout the country, including Pangasinan, Davao and Albay provinces “to learn from our people of their true needs.”
Citing data from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), he said the health expenditure of each Filipino rose by 8.7 percent in 2016. This means each Filipino spent more than P6,345 for his or her health that year compared to P5,840 in 2015.