For someone who has been working since 17 years old, it came as a surprise to me how Philhealth (Medicare) can be so useful. Well, useful to a certain extent. While it covered a substantial amount of my hospitalization bill last week, Philhealth still does not shoulder a big portion of your bill and does not cover medical consultation fees and hospital out-patient privileges. This is what we get from copying the American instead of the Canadian or British model of public insurance system.
It was a first time for me to be hospitalized and while my offices (I have three this year) religiously deduct my Philhealth contributions monthly, I never imagined I would end up using this benefit this year. Anyway, my realization is that even if Philhealth is helpful to employees, the limited coverage it offers is just not enough to alleviate the plight of an ordinary patient.
And thankfully, I am not an ordinary patient. I have been employed time and time again by different private and public institutions at the same time so I belong to a higher bracket in the Philhealth ladder of coverage. I also have my own private health insurance, which I pay for personally and so I do not have to worry so much about what Philhealth cannot cover in my hospital bill. But how about the ordinary patient? Those with no private health insurance coverage? Worse, those without Philhealth coverage?
Head-on Dialectic 