Senator Alan Peter Cayetano on Tuesday raised concerns over the Department of Health’s (DOH) increased allocation for the Medical Assistance to Indigent and Financially Incapacitated Patients (MAIFIP) program, slamming it for politicizing healthcare.
Speaking directly to Health Secretary Teodoro Herbosa, Cayetano argued that DOH’s current focus on MAIFIP fails to address more urgent issues within the healthcare system such as fulfilling its commitment to the No Balance Billing policy, low rates of immunization, stunting of Filipino children, and maternal mortality.
“Napopoliticize tayo. Politicians would rather have patients ask for help at may maibigay sila. Pero kung aayusin ang presyo (ng PhilHealth packages) at No Balance Billing, hindi na natin kailangan ng ganyang kalaking MAIFIP,” Cayetano said during the 2025 budget plenary debates for the DOH on November 19, 2024.
He also criticized the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth) for failing to update its package rates in a decade to reflect rising healthcare costs.
If updated, the senator said, it could have helped improve healthcare accessibility, lower out-of-pocket expenses and reduce dependency on MAIFIP.
“Napag-iwanan na tayo… I envy 2013 and 2014 where the PhilHealth case rates were close to the real price and people actually started believing in No Balance Billing. But now it’s a joke!” the senator said.
Cayetano said this has led to higher out-of-pocket expenses for indigent patients, making the policy nearly impossible to implement.
“The idea of the No Balance Billing policy is that if I’m a patient and my treatment is covered by the case rate, I shouldn’t have to pay anything extra. I should be able to use my PhilHealth and go in and out of the hospital with no additional charges. But because the case rates are outdated, this is now almost impossible,” he said.
Cayetano also stressed to Herbosa that the DOH should not tie MAIFIP to the department’s priorities, and instead focus on tackling system health issues.
“I hope this is the last year that we don’t relate the need for MAIFIP sa stunting ng Filipino children, sa nutrition, at PhilHealth coverage,” he told Herbosa.
He said this is because in reality, MAIFIP is being used to cater to political interests.
“During the pandemic, we said ‘let’s listen to the doctors and scientists.’ But now, the DOH budget reflects the opinion of politicians. The technocrats shouldn’t see it this way. You should fix it,” he said.
After receiving a series of reprimands from Cayetano, Herbosa could only respond, “I agree Mr. President.”| – PR
