Roco: Health insurance for all

Presidential aspirant Raul Roco called yesterday for all Filipinos to be covered by the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (Philhealth).

Philhealth was created eight years ago but only covers half of the country’s 82-million population, he said in a statement.

Roco vowed that "universal health coverage" under Philhealth will be one of his priorities if he is elected president in 2004.

"Under a Roco administration, this coverage will be one hundred percent," he said, adding he intends to increase the reimbursement Philhealth members receive, from 30 to 70 percent of the cost of hospitalization.

The former education secretary also expressed concern over the exodus of Filipino nurses to better-paying jobs abroad.

To address this, Roco said he will initiate "high-level bilateral negotiations" with countries importing Filipino nurses, and any accord arising from these negotiations will be based on a "partnership of equals."

"The negotiation will work for financial assistance to be given to the Philippines to train globally competitive nurses, to upgrade nursing education, health services and nurses’ salaries in the country," he said.

Meanwhile, Philhealth signed an agreement yesterday with officials from the Philippine Tuberculosis Initiatives for the Private Sector (TIPS) to further strengthen its TB benefit package.

The Philippine TIPS is a project funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

Philhealth launched its first-ever TB benefit package in May this year. The package, which pays P4,000 per case, provides financial relief to an estimated 250,000 Filipinos who have full-blown TB.

A unique feature of the package is that the money is not given directly to the patient. It is instead paid to a health facility qualified to administer Directly Observed Treatment, Short-course (DOTS).

"This increases the chances that the patient will be diagnosed correctly and will complete the treatment," said Philhealth president Dr. Francisco Duque III.

DOTS is considered the most effective anti-TB strategy in the world and is endorsed by the World Health Organization.

Statistics from the Department of Health show that TB kills an average of 68 Filipinos every day and that 22 million adult Filipinos carry the organism that causes TB.