High healthcare costs burden most Filipinos, says NSCB

MANILA, Philippines – The high cost of health care in the country remains a burden for many Filipinos as seen in the decelerating growth rates of their health spending.

Filipinos’ expenditures for health showed improvements from 2005 to 2007 but at slowing growth rates, according to National Statistical Coordination Board (NSCB) secretary general Romulo Virola.

Virola said at current prices, the total outlay for health went up from P198.4 billion in 2005 to P234.3 billion in 2007, registering a growth rate of 9.1 percent in 2006 and 8.3 percent in 2007.

In fact, Virola said discounting the effect of inflation, total health expenditure grew at only 4.6 percent in 2006 and even slower at four percent the following year.

In effect, spending for health on a per capita basis translated to miniscule increases of P14 in 2006 from only P11 in 2007.

These are among the highlights noted in the 2005-2007 preliminary estimates of the Philippine National Health Accounts (PNHA) released by NSCB, Virola said.

Other salient patterns and trends observed from the new PNHA updates are the following:

• The level of health expenditure in 2005 to 2007 was within the target of three to four percent of gross national product set as part of the National Objectives for Health 2005-2010. However, the ratio exhibited a decreasing trend from 3.4 percent in 2005 to 3.2 percent in 2007.

• Pinoy households continued to bear the heaviest burden in terms of spending for their health needs as private out-of-pocket surpassed the 50 percent mark in health expenditure share in 2006, reaching 54.3 percent in 2007. Private households thus contributed an estimated P97.6 billion to the total health expenditure in2005 and P127.3 billion in 2007.

• Government came in a far second in health spending contribution, with the National Government and the local government units (LGUs) footing almost equal shares of 13.0 percent and 13.3 percent in 2007, respectively. It is worth noting that the LGUs spent more than the national government in 2006 and 2007. Total government expenditure on health care goods and services increased fromP58.5 billion in 2005 to P61.5 billion in 2007, registering an annual growth of only 2.6 percent.

• Health expenditure from social insurance barely grew from P19.4 billion in 2005 to nearly P20.0 billion in 2007, indicating an average annual growth of only 1.6 percent. Thus, instead of picking up as targeted, the social insurance share in health spending went down from 9.8 percent in 2005 to only 8.5 two years later.

The PNHA presents information on how much is spent on health care goods and services and who is paying for these goods and services. This information is useful in analyzing the appropriateness of the levels, composition, and structure of health expenditures, especially those of the government.

In his report, Virola said the data can also help determine whether the aggregate health care spending from all sources, that is, the government, the social insurance sector, the private sector, and the rest of the world, is adequate to meet minimum requirements and identify probable areas of inefficiencies in allocating health care resources. –Iris C. Gonzales (The Philippine Star)