Yamsuan wants free annual medical checkup for all Pinoys
BICOL Saro Partylist Rep. Brian Raymund Yamsuan is pushing the passage of a measure that would entitle every Filipino to a free annual medical checkup.
Yamsuan said House Bill 1785 aims to provide for this benefit as a way to ensure that every Filipino is given access to preventive healthcare.
“In the long run, the investment in extending this free checkup benefit would lead to the government spending less in providing treatment for life-threatening ailments such as diabetes and heart disease, as many Filipinos would have the opportunity to be diagnosed and treated early before their conditions worsen,” said Yamsuan, one of the co-authors of HB 1785.
Under HB 1785, all Filipino citizens, by virtue of their membership in Philhealth mandated under the Universal Health Care Law, “shall be entitled to the applicable benefits under the Philippine Health Insurance Program.”
According to the measure, such benefits include a free annual medical checkup that shall cover tests for cholesterol and blood sugar.
HB 1785 or the proposed Free Annual Medical Checkup Act also states that laboratory and diagnostic tests included in the benefit shall be expanded subject to the availability of Philhealth funds.
The bill, which was approved by the House Committee on Health last year, mandates Philhealth to establish a system that allows every Filipino access to the free annual medical checkup.
Yamsuan pointed out that despite the implementation of the Universal Health Care Law and other significant strides in the Philippine health care system, many Filipinos still succumb to diseases that are otherwise preventable and treatable with cost-effective interventions.
The Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) reported that as of September 2023, the leading cause of death in the Philippines was ischemic heart disease. This was followed by neoplasms (e.g. cancer), cerebrovascular diseases (e.g. stroke, aneurysm), diabetes mellitus, and pneumonia.
A separate report showed that six out of ten Filipinos die without being medically attended by a physician.
In 2019, a study conducted by PhilCare found that nearly half of Filipinos were “not sure if they can afford the cost of regular medical checkups.”
The Mercer Marsh Benefits 2019 Medical Trends Around the World Report, meanwhile named the Philippines as the second most expensive country (next to Vietnam) in terms of medical expenses in Southeast Asia. It said medical costs in the Philippines are expected to outpace inflation in 2020 by six times.
