Phl eyes Mexico as model for PhilHealth expansion

MANILA, Philippines - The Department of Health (DOH) is eyeing Mexico as the country’s model for the expansion of Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) since the two nations have similar demography.

Health Secretary Enrique Ona said Mexico’s health insurance program for the poor is good and could be adopted in the Philippines.

“A good part of what we are doing here, they have already done in Mexico. The reforms in the health insurance system there started in 2003 while we are starting or about to start,” he said in an interview.

Ona recently led a small delegation of DOH officials on a five-day study tour of the universal health care (UHC) system in Mexico.

The study tour was designed for the DOH to learn from the mistakes and successes of Mexico.

“Health care response is a very tricky system. I hope the Aquino administration will be remembered for the reforms in the health care insurance system,” he said.

Under the Aquino leadership, the DOH is targeting to enroll every Filipino in PhilHealth, including those who can afford to pay their own P1,200 annual premium. It also aims to expand benefit packages to reduce the out-of-pocket expenses of patients.

In a fact sheet, Ona said that the Philippines’ UHC, just like Mexico’s, is “being implemented in a decentralized setting.”

“In Mexico, the federal government provides resources to 32 states to implement health sector programs. Therefore, there are many commonalities expected in the challenges in implementing health sector, especially how to create the right balance of incentives, accountability and innovation at the level of decentralized entities,” he said.

While Mexico is an “upper middle-income country” with a gross domestic product (GDP) of $10,000, it is “one of the most unequal countries” in Latin America.

“Almost 50 percent of its population lives below the national poverty line and Mexico has one of the lowest revenue collection rate as a percentage of GDP in Latin America (13 percent). Public policy in Mexico, like in the Philippines, is facing the challenge of inclusive growth and poverty alleviation,” Ona said.

Mexico, like the Philippines, also has a conditional cash transfer program that provides cash linked to regular school attendance and health clinic visits.

The Mexican health system also has “fragmented health financing and service delivery arrangements which generate duplication and inefficiency.”

Ona said that similar to the Philippines, Mexico has a “deliberate policy objective of providing health insurance coverage for poor populations.”

Mexico’s program for indigents started in 2003 and had incrementally expanded coverage for the uninsured. At present, around 43.5 million or 90 percent of the uninsured are already covered.

The health chief said he is confident that the Philippines would also succeed in its UHC, just like Mexico.

“If Mexico was able to achieve certain and specific milestones in its first decade, there is no doubt that the Philippines can. With its early advantage of a unified health insurance program for all Filipinos and an unprecedented commitment from the national leadership, there is no reason to believe that the reforms will not be accomplished within this administration,” Ona said.