Raymundo W. Lo, MD, FPSP
Unaffordable health care?
January 13, 2025 11:18 pm
The WTW Global Medical Trends Survey found health care benefit costs in the Philippines continue to be high at 18.3 percent compared to 19.3 percent in 2024. It is the second highest in the Asia Pacific region next to Indonesia at 19.45 percent. The rate is expected to be elevated in the long term. The factors cited as driving up medical costs in the country are increased utilization of health care services, rising hospital and clinic costs, frequency of diseases, and higher professional fees.
Gen Beta: A new generation of hope?
January 06, 2025 4:52 pm
Babies born from Jan. 1, 2025 to around 2039 are said to belong to Gen Beta, following Gen Alpha (2011-2024). If Gen Alpha are digital natives, Gen Beta will be living in a time when “digital and physical worlds are seamless,” according to McCrindle Research.
Dare to hope in 2025: Three New Year’s resolutions to consider
December 30, 2024 4:27 pm
The new year is now upon us. It is tempting, nay, compelling, to forget the awful and tawdry events that happened in 2024, with its many natural and man-made disasters, if only to try saving our sanity in these trying times.
New banknotes, wow?
December 23, 2024 11:27 pm
The Central Bank recently announced the rollout of the new polymer banknotes series (₱500, ₱100 and ₱50), in addition to the previously released ₱1000 note, which was front-page news as well as meriting a massive two-page colored ad in national- circulation newspapers (must have cost hundreds of thousands pesos). The topic also trended in social media, arousing much interest and garnering hundreds of comments.
All circus, no bread
December 16, 2024 9:33 pm
For weeks and even months now, we’ve been witness to political spectacles as in hearings in the senate and congress. First was the investigation of POGOs, which stirred quite a hornet’s nest, leading to the President banning all of them. Then it shifted to an investigation of Bamban Mayor Alice Guo, who is apparently a Chinese mole of sorts.