HOTSPOT

There are only few families in the country who don’t fear getting sick. They are the richest and wealthiest ones – many of them possessing generational wealth, political power or both. Not a few own or partly-own hospitals and medical centers, or are connected with them by sheer political power.

If they cannot or refuse to avail of medical attention locally, they can at any time go abroad to see a doctor, get lifesaving treatment, and as we saw in the recent pandemic, obtain vaccine shots.
This is aside from the fact that they are insulated from the problems of ordinary Filipinos: earning a living, budgeting, food preparation, keeping oneself physically and mentally healthy amid all the daily stress.

The highest-earning professionals serving these families and their companies or political offices are the next most fortunate, because they could avail of the highest possible levels of private health insurance.

Below them are the “middle class” who get some form of private health insurance, on top of Philhealth benefits. When faced with devastating ailments, both the private and public health benefits often fall short and they could tumble back down to poverty.

For the majority — workers and farmers — the mantra is the advertising adage “bawal magkasakit.” It terrorizes them. How could the minimum wage or the dwindling farm incomes possibly pay for a check-up, lab tests, hospitalization, procedures, and surgeries?

During the pandemic, a friend who was doing consulting work for companies was shocked to learn that many minimum-wage and gig workers were refusing to be vaccinated. He dispatched a team to find out why. The research discovered that while the workers trust the vaccines, they were worried by the side-effect of getting a fever for even a day or two because they would lose a day’s or two days’ wage. Some feared losing their jobs for being absent. (They solved this by persuading some conscientious company owners to give the workers a vaccination leave.)

Elsewhere and at the same time, we heard that the more fortunate (with wealth, cars, and connections) could go “shop” for the vaccines of their choice. There were many anecdotal accounts about those who got jabbed with Sinovac doses, also availed of Moderna and Pfizer. Mind you, this was prior to the introduction of booster shots.

On any given day, those passing through East Avenue would see the long lines of patients seeking medical attention at the East Avenue Medical Center and the Philippine Heart Center. The lines actually start in the early hours of the morning. Friends say the situation is replicated in many public hospitals nationwide.

No wonder sales continue to rise for health supplements that supposedly promise cures for many ailments. Those could be more affordable and accessible than seeing a doctor.
The situation is not easy to solve. But neither is it impossible.

The local government of Quezon City is admirable in setting up many health centers across the city which could provide primary healthcare services. They cater to pregnant mothers, provide shots for newborns, and free maintenance medicines for those with hypertension. They also have free or very affordable mental health consultations and medicines.

The billions in excess Philhealth funds should stay with Philhealth and be used for keeping our workers, seniors, and PWDs healthy, and provide for those facing devastating ailments and illnesses.
At the same time, we hope to see more and bigger public hospitals and public medical centers where any citizen should be able to obtain medical assistance. This is an investment worth making, and an expenditure worthy of public appropriation.

If we can provide free elementary, high school, and college education, we can find merit in providing free medical services to people, regardless of age, class, region, religion, and political belief. Nobody should lose their jobs or go bankrupt just because they get sick. Workers especially should get the care they need, now and in their retirement.

Hopefully, we turn healthcare into an important issue in the coming elections and challenge politicians to propose solutions that would turn healthcare from a privilege or a matter of patronage, into a right of all.