13/12/2025
๐จ๐ป๐ถ๐๐ฒ๐ฟ๐๐ฎ๐น ๐๐ฒ๐ฎ๐น๐๐ต ๐๐ผ๐๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ฎ๐ด๐ฒ ๐๐ฎ๐
Celebrated annually on December 12, the Universal Health Coverage Day serves as a reminder that achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) starts with guaranteeing Health for All, for more resilient, productive, peaceful, and prosperous communities are fostered through healthier populations. This calls out governments to ensure peopleโs access to affordable and sufficient healthcare servicesโa stepping stone towards progress across all sectors.
This yearโs theme โUnaffordable Health Costs? Weโre Sick of It!โ emphasizes that more than half of the worldโs population still struggles with access to essential healthcare services despite numerous ambitious political commitments on achieving Universal Health Coverage by 2030. Data shows that 4 out 10 families worldwide struggle financially to afford healthcare services with only their personal pocketsโoften met at the expense of their basic necessities such as food, water, and housing.
The Philippines is deemed no stranger to the inhumane healthcare costs that only grow to be more inaccessible every year. This raging reality is proven with the current circulating statement that โFilipinos are one health bill away from poverty,โ reinforced by a recent study of the Boston Consulting Group revealing that 6 out of 10 Filipino families cannot afford a 10,000 Php bill without borrowing money.
In 2019, our efforts to address issues on healthcare access led to the enactment of the Republic Act No. 11213, more commonly known as the Universal Health Act. Recently, its amendments were proposed to lower Philhealth rates, to ease the health-related financial burden of migrant workers, and to enhance the collaboration and efficiency in its implementation. However, this has been postponed until the 20th Congress because of the belief that a more careful, evidence-based approach is still needed to review the said law.
Until changes and improvements meet the eye, Filipinos will only continue to shoulder the health-related financial strains aggravated by the persistent systemic issues and gaps in governance and by the trembling efforts everyday to make ends meet. As we mark UHC Day 2025, may this serve as a call to demand stronger, equitable, and more accountable health systemsโbecause access to healthcare must never be a debt sentence.
