Cong. Wilbert “Manoy” T. Lee lamented the lack of urgency and inaction of the Department of Health (DOH) on pressing healthcare issues such as the slow implementation of Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth) benefits increase and non-inclusion of costly diagnostic tests in the urgent care packages despite the state health insurer’s billions of available funds.
Lee is set to scrutinize the proposed 2025 budget of DOH today at the House Plenary debates. He earlier called out DOH which leads the Benefits Committee (BenCom), the sub-committee responsible for the policy directions and benefits development of PhilHealth, on why its benefits packages remain unresponsive to the needs of members and beneficiaries.
“Sa pagsalang ng DOH sa plenary deliberations sa Kongreso, bubusisiin natin kung bakit sa kabila ng bilyon-bilyong pondo ng PhilHealth, tingi-tingi at pinatatagal pa rin ang mga dagdag benepisyo nito, gayong napakarami pa nitong kailangang tugunan para sa kalusugan ng ating mga kababayan,” the Bicolano lawmaker said.
It can be recalled that during the DOH Budget Briefing held last September 4, citing the more than P500 billion worth of investments of PhilHealth, Lee warned the health department that he will defer its budget at the plenary debates if it is still unable to address the concerns he raised regarding PhilHealth’s enormous funds.
“Mula pa nung nakaraang taon nang nabisto natin ang bilyon-bilyong available funds ng PhilHealth, iginiit na natin na bukod sa pagbabayad nito sa utang sa mga ospital, ay gamitin nito ang pondo sa pagpapalawak ng mga benepisyong pangkalusugan,” the solon from Bicol said.
“Hanggang ngayon, kulang na kulang pa rin ang mga naipagkakaloob nitong serbisyo para arugain ang mga Pilipino. Napakalaking kasalanan sa taumbayan ang pagtengga o paglipat ng pondo para sa kalusugan sa ibang programa na wala namang mamamatay kung hindi gawin.”
“Illness shouldn’t cost livelihoods. Kung hindi naibibigay ang dapat at kayang ibigay na serbisyong pangkalusugan, marami tayong kababayan ang lumalala ang sakit at hindi nakakapaghanap-buhay, at sa kasamaang palad, namamatay,” he added.
A staunch health advocate, Lee successfully led the 30% increase in PhilHealth benefits which was implemented last February 14. He is currently pushing for another 50% increase in PhilHealth coverage.
As early as March this year, Lee has been pushing for the inclusion of optometric services in PhilHealth urgent care packages, as well as the costly diagnostic tests such as the Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI), Positron Emission Tomography (PET) and Computed Tomography (CT) scan, among others.
Lee will also propound questions today on the proposed 2025 budget of the Department of Agriculture (DA) where he will discuss issues on food security and lowering the prices of food.
“Ang pera ng gobyerno, pera ng taumbayan. Wala tayong karapatan na nasa gobyerno na hindi ibigay ang dapat ibigay para maabot ang Murang Pagkain at Libreng Gamot at Pagpapagamot para sa bawat Pilipino. Laban natin itong lahat! Gawin na natin!” Lee added.
