A party-list lawmaker has appealed to fellow legislators to support the passage of a bill that would entitle every Filipino to a free annual medical check-up.
Rep. Brian Raymund Yamsuan of the Bicol Saro party-list group said the enactment of House Bill 1785 will provide for this benefit as a way to ensure that every Filipino is given access to preventive healthcare.
“In the long run, the investment in extending this free check-up benefit would lead to the government spending less in providing treatment for life-threatening ailments such as diabetes and heart disease, as many Filipinos would have the opportunity to be diagnosed and treated early before their conditions worsens,” said Yamsuan, one of the co-authors of HB 1785.
Under HB 1785, all Filipino citizens, by virtue of their membership in Philhealth mandated under the Universal Health Care Law, “shall be entitled to the applicable benefits under the Philippine Health Insurance Program.”
The measure provides that such benefits include a free annual medical check-up that covers tests for cholesterol and blood sugar.
HB 1785 or the proposed Free Annual Medical Check-up Act also states that laboratory and diagnostic tests included in the benefit shall be expanded subject to the availability of Philhealth funds.
The bill, which was approved by the House Committee on Health last year, mandates Philhealth to establish a system that allows every Filipino access to the free annual medical check-up.
Yamsuan pointed out that despite the implementation of the Universal Health Care Law and other significant strides in the Philippine health care system, many Filipinos still succumb to diseases that are otherwise preventable and treatable with cost-effective interventions.
The Philippine Statistics Authority reported that as of September 2023, the leading causes of death in the Philippines were ischemic heart disease, followed by neoplasms (e.g. cancer), cerebrovascular diseases (e.g. stroke, aneurysm), diabetes mellitus, and pneumonia.
A separate report showed that six out of ten Filipinos die without being attended to by a physician.
In 2019, a study conducted by PhilCare found out that nearly half of Filipinos were “not sure if they can afford the cost of regular medical check-ups.”
The Mercer Marsh Benefits 2019 Medical Trends Around the World Report, meanwhile named the Philippines as the second most expensive country (next to Vietnam) in terms of medical expenses in Southeast Asia. It said medical costs in the Philippines are expected to outpace inflation in 2020 by six times.