Universal health care: What are the reform areas relevant to PAFP?

ABSTRACT

@#A good health system is supposed to improve the health of the population by providing effective health services equitably. Thus, the Universal Health Care (UHC) Act was designed to adopt a health care system that provides all Filipinos access to quality and cost-effective promotive, preventive, curative, rehabilitative and palliative health services without causing financial hardship especially the poor sector. There are four major elements in the UHC where family physicians can play a major role. The first is the population to be covered where there is now a shift of coverage from membership by premium payments to citizenship. The next is the health interventions to be included. This benefit package should be the one affordable to the whole society with priority to the worst-off sector. The next is the network of health professionals who will provide the health services. The network must be adequately distributed to provide service coverage for the whole population including the geographically isolated and disadvantaged areas. The last is the financing, where the delivery of health services must provide financial protection for the poor. To translate this into a realizable health sector reform agenda at the national and local level, there is a need for context-specific technical analyses and consultations from various sectors especially the private sector.