TRANSCRIPT OF AMBUSH INTERVIEW WITH SENATOR TG GUINGONA
(AFTER THE DOH BUDGET HEARING)
August 27, 2014

Sen TG: According to DOH, 82% are already covered by Philhealth. Pag 85% kasi universal, so halos universal (coverage) na tayo.

Question: (Inaudible)

Sen. TG: That means that out of 100 million Filipinos, 82 million are already covered.

Question: Pero iyong sinabing actuarial...do you still have to go to actuarial cost?

Sen. TG: Hindi na, based on the numbers hindi na presently pero in the future baka because you have to take into account the growth of population. It is a moving target actually. Really, what is important there that there is a declaration that everybody is covered because it is very important for Filipinos to know that. Kasi tatlong factors yan eh. One is coverage, two is awareness and three is utilization. Covered ka nga pero di mo alam eh di bale wala. And yung utilization. Iyong utilization ang baba baba. Ang dami daming covered pero ang kumukuha ng Philhealth ang baba. If it is not used then there is a problem.

Question: Ang issue ba sir iyong admission ba to the hospitals or iyong nire raise na it will treat everyone as members. Ang issue ba dyan ay yung admission sa hospitals?

Sen. TG: Also on the poorest of the poor, the issue of trust and confidence in the hospital. Papasok ka ba sa isang ospital na alam mo walang operating room, walang doctor, walang x-ray, walang wala? Doon na ako sa private pero di ko kaya natatakot ako. That's why merong program ngayon na di lang pinopondohan ang insurance, pinopondohan mo rin iyong facilities na making sure na may operating room, may x-ray. Then the next problem is may operating room nga, may facilities, wala namang doctor. So it is a long process. If you look at it, it is decades of neglect on health. It has been there eversince. It is only now that suddenly health is coming to the forefront, suddenly there is a lot of funds pouring.

Question: What you were saying sir kanina is you don't need to show ID to go to the hospital. Admission lang ba yun?

Sen. TG: Dapat Filipino ka ba? Iyon lang. So that has to be announced. That is what I was trying to draw out from Secretary Ona. It should not be me because we are not from the Department of Health or Philhealth, it should be them.

Question: Maybe they are banking on that ID system?

Sen. TG: Iyong ID, sabi ko nga eh wala na dapat ID. But still we have to face realities. It is also important to have a tracking sytem. Kunwari pupunta ka ng Mindanao, ano ang mga gamot na binigay sa iyo, anong sakit mo, dapat makita yan sa computer. Dapat may tracking system not on the purposes of admission but to monitor on what state of health you are in and what medicines so the doctors in other places can be guided on what other doctors in other places gave you.

Question: So hindi na kailangang i-identify kung sino ang mahihirap? Kanina sabi nahihirapan daw sila kung sino ang mahirap?

Sen. TG: Yun nga eh. Hindi na kailangan. Actually 82 million covered na daw so 18 million nalang. So kokonti nalang iyan. Actually pwede na silang mag-declare na universal na ang Philhealth.

Question: Do they have the hardware/software (inaudible)

Sen. TG: Iyong connectivity ang problema natin. Alam naman natin, kayo gumagamit ng internet lalong lalo na sa probinsya. So isa yun sa challenges natin. Wala na sa DOH yet kailangang kailangan yung technology natin has to catch-up so that we can have world class health facilities and health system.

Question: Suppose that the hospital expense is 100 thousand, how much is the Philhealth coverage?

Sen. TG: May case rates yan. What they say case rates, for example, kung ano yung sakit mo, may nacompute na sila diyan, may maximum na babayaran diyan. Kunwari caesarian may binabayad na P15,000. Kung manganak ka yan ang babayaran. Part ng rate nun ay 40 percent goes to the doctor. So that is enough incentive. So can you imagine, 40 percent of P15,000, ikaw doctor ka Marvin you do 5 caesarians a day, magkano na at the end of the day, how much take home do you have? So there's still a problem of doctors going to the provinces inspite of that system. So dapat alamin namin baket ganun?

Question: Doon sa 2015 budget allocation ng Philhealth na P37 billion (subsidy for premium payments of Philhealth) kaya na bang icover dun ang 18 million?

Sen. TG: Tingin ko kayang kaya na. At kung kailangan man, maliit lang yan.

Question: Sir is there anything in the DOH budget that you want to disaggregate? Lumpsum?

Sen. TG: I will go to that later on. I am focus muna on Philhealth kasi yan ang importante lalo na ang 3 concept ng Philhealth: coverage, awareness, utilization. Iyong utilization ang pinakamatindi sapagkat maliit ang utilization. Baket ganun?

Question: Ano yung lumabas na utilization sir?

Sen. TG: Sa 2009 figures halos 30 percent lang eh. So member ka nga pero di mo ginagamit. Sayang eh. Kaya maraming pera kasi walang gumagamit.

Question: Sir may problema dun sa awareness?

Sen. TG: Yes although sinasabi nila narinig ninyo na 92% daw ang awareness sa SWS di ko maintindihan eh. Kayo rin mismo, just go to the health facilities makikita nyo mga public hospitals hirap ang tao eh.

Question: Magba-bicam na daw Senate at Congress sa senior coverage ng Philhealth?

Sen. TG: Hindi pa. Hindi pa namin napasa dito. Next week pa namin.

Question: Sir on other issues, sa Malampaya, sino na ang...(inaudible)

Sen. TG: We will just start with the Chairman of the Commission on Audit. We have to start with the COA report because that is the official report that we have.

Question: Sir wala bang special audit COA report sa Malampaya?

Sen. TG: Meron.