Boxing icon Senator Emmanuel D. Pacquaio has thumbed down calls to privatize the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth) saying doing so will go against the very purpose of providing socialized health care for all Filipinos, especially the poor.
Pacquaio said privatizing PhilHealth will make it a profit-driven organization just like all other private health insurers.
"This will immediately impact members who would have to pay a higher premium, thereby denying the poor affordable health care," he said.
Pacquaio emphasized that the proposal will just shield its officers from corruption and plunder cases.
Once PhilHealth is privatized, the people who plundered the agency can only be sued for estafa or civil damages, he said.
‘’The best thing is to jail its corrupt officials instead of privatizing PhilHealth,” he said.
Pacquaio maintained that privatizing PhilHealth also runs counter with Republic Act No. 11223, the Universal Health Care (UHC) Law, which promises to provide universal health care coverage for all Filipinos. He is a co-author of RA 11223.
‘’Itong PhilHealth ay pinapatakbo ng pamahalaan dahil wala itong ibang layunin kundi ang mabigyan ng mura at sapat na kalingang pang-kalusugan ang ating mga mamamayan, kasama na ang ating mga mahihirap na kababayan. Ito ay isang serbisyo-publiko at hindi isang negosyo,” Pacquiao said. (PhilHealth is being run by the government with the aim to provide cheap and adequate health care to our countrymen, particularly the poor.The agency is for public service, not a business endeavor.)
“Sa oras na ginawang pribado ang PhilHealth, tiyak na tataas din ang bayarin ng mga miyembro dahil kailangan na nitong kumita gaya ng ibang mga pribadong health insurance providers,” he added. (The moment PhilHealth is privatized, contributions of PhilHealth members will increase because private health insurance providers need to realize profits.)
Pacquiao said that while he understands the frustration of many because of the persistent allegations of massive corruption, privatizing PhilHealth will actually do more harm than good.
Privatization also does not provide any guarantee that it will make PhilHealth more efficient and more reliable considering the country’s dismal record on privatized government assets, he added.
What is needed for PhilHealth is to completely stop the systemic corruption that has undermined its credibility and continued viability by conducting a full and top-to-bottom organizational revamp.
This will allow new blood of honest, qualified, and dedicated professionals to take over and properly run the country’s socialized health insurance system.
“We just need to overhaul PhilHealth and fill it with people who are honest, dedicated, and competent. Privatizing Philhealth is not the answer. It could even do more damage to our social health care system,” Pacquaio said.