No Filipino fighting for his or her life should have to ask this question: “Do we have enough money to get admitted?”
Yet for countless Filipino families, that question comes even before the doctor gives a diagnosis.
A father suffers chest pains, but hesitates to go to the hospital because he fears the bill more than the illness. A mother postpones her laboratory tests so the family can pay the month’s rent. An elderly couple buys only half of their prescribed maintenance medicines because their pension is not enough. A child is rushed to the emergency room while relatives frantically call friends, pawn jewelry, or create online fundraisers to save a loved one’s life.
These are not isolated tragedies. They have quietly become part of everyday Filipino life.
Our Constitution envisioned a different future. Article II, Section 15 declares that the State shall protect and promote the right to health of the people. Article XIII, Section 11 further mandates the State to adopt an integrated and comprehensive approach to health development and make essential health services available to all people at affordable cost, with priority for the underprivileged, the sick, the elderly, women, and children.
These constitutional provisions recognize a simple truth: healthcare is not a privilege reserved for those who can afford it. It is a matter of human dignity.
Congress reinforced this constitutional commitment through Republic Act No. 11223, the Universal Health Care Act, which automatically enrolls every Filipino into the national health insurance program and seeks to improve access to quality healthcare services. It was a significant legislative milestone and a step in the right direction.
Yet legislation alone does not erase the difficult choices that ordinary families continue to make.
To be fair, PhilHealth has provided much-needed financial assistance to millions of Filipinos. Yet anyone who has experienced a serious illness understands that PhilHealth often covers only a fraction of the actual cost of treatment. The balance—sometimes amounting to hundreds of thousands of pesos—still falls upon patients and their families.
The result is painfully familiar. Families borrow money. Employees cash in retirement savings. Parents mortgage property. Some simply decide not to continue treatment because they can no longer afford it.
Perhaps one of the most telling measures of a country’s healthcare system is this: would its own people choose to spend their retirement there?
Over the years, I have spoken with many Filipino-Americans who dream of returning home after decades of working abroad. Many long to spend their retirement in the Philippines, close to family, familiar traditions, and the communities where they were raised. They miss the warmth of Filipino hospitality, the slower pace of provincial life, and the simple joy of growing old in the country they still call home.
Yet despite their desire to come home, many of them share the same hesitation.
Their greatest concern is not the weather, the cost of living, or even public safety. It is healthcare.
They worry about whether they can readily access specialized medical care, whether hospitals have the facilities they may need as they age, and whether they would face substantial out-of-pocket expenses despite having saved for retirement. For many, the reliability and accessibility of healthcare ultimately become decisive considerations in choosing where to spend their later years.
That should give us pause.
When Filipinos who have the financial means to retire comfortably still express reservations about the country’s healthcare system, we should ask ourselves an uncomfortable question: What more for the ordinary Filipino who has far fewer resources and nowhere else to go?
Healthcare is therefore more than a social service. It is also a measure of national competitiveness. A country that aspires to encourage overseas Filipinos to return, invest, or retire at home must be able to offer confidence that quality healthcare will be available when it is needed most. A healthcare system that earns the trust of its own people—whether they live in Manila, Mindanao, London, or Los Angeles—is a healthcare system that strengthens not only public welfare but also the nation’s future.
Equally troubling is the continuing fear among many patients that they may not receive timely medical attention because they cannot immediately produce the money required for hospitalization. Republic Act No. 10932 strengthened the long-standing prohibition against hospitals requiring deposits or advance payments before providing emergency treatment or managing serious cases. Simply put, when life hangs in the balance, treatment should come first.
However, legal protection alone cannot solve every problem confronting our healthcare system.
Behind every hospital bed stands another challenge that deserves national attention—the steady migration of Filipino doctors, nurses, and other healthcare professionals.
The Philippines has long been recognized for producing some of the world’s finest nurses and highly competent physicians. They serve patients in North America, Europe, the Middle East, Australia, and many other parts of the world. Their competence, professionalism, and compassion have earned international respect.
One of those nurses is my own sister, who now works as a registered nurse in the United Kingdom. Out family takes pride in what she has achieved overseas. At the same time, I cannot help but wonder how many more Filipinos here at home could have benefited from her skills had our healthcare system offered the same opportunities
Like many Filipino healthcare professionals, she did not leave because she loved the Philippines any less. She left because another country offered better compensation, greater professional opportunities, and a more secure future for her family.
Her story mirrors that of thousands of Filipino doctors, nurses and healthcare professionals who continue to leave our shores every year.
Their success abroad is something we celebrate with pride. But it also raises a difficult question: why do so many of our best healthcare professionals find better opportunities elsewhere than in the country that educated and trained them?
The answer is neither simple nor comfortable.
Many public hospitals continue to struggle with inadequate facilities, manpower shortages, heavy patient loads, and limited resources. Healthcare workers often work long hours under difficult conditions while receiving salaries that cannot compete with those offered overseas. Rural communities remain underserved because physicians and nurses naturally gravitate toward areas where professional and financial opportunities are greater.
This is not a criticism of those who leave. Every Filipino has the right to pursue a better life for themselves and their families.
The real challenge belongs to government.
If we truly want universal healthcare to succeed, we must also create an environment where healthcare professionals are encouraged to build their careers here at home.
That means faithfully implementing the Magna Carta of Public Health Workers under Republic Act No. 7305, improving salaries and benefits, expanding scholarship and residency opportunities, modernizing public hospitals, investing in medical equipment, strengthening rural health programs, and ensuring that healthcare workers are treated not merely as heroes during times of crisis but as indispensable partners in nation-building every single day.
Our Supreme Court has consistently recognized that the Constitution’s social justice provisions are not empty promises but guiding principles for governance. In Imbong v. Ochoa (G.R. No. 204819, April 8, 2014), the Supreme Court acknowledged the State’s important role in promoting and protecting public health while ensuring that public health measures remain consistent with constitutional guarantees. The decision underscores that healthcare policy is not merely an administrative concern but one that implicates constitutional values.
For many families, the struggle does not end when they leave the hospital. It continues at the pharmacy counter. Maintenance medicines for hypertension, diabetes, heart disease, and other chronic illnesses consume a substantial portion of a family’s monthly income. Some patients skip doses, reduce their prescribed medication, or stop treatment altogether simply because they can no longer afford it. Healthcare cannot end with a successful operation or hospital discharge. Recovery depends equally on access to affordable medicines and continuous medical care.
We need stronger community health centers capable of preventing illnesses before they become medical emergencies. Preventive medicine, vaccination, nutrition, early screening, and health education deserve as much attention as hospital infrastructure. Every peso spent preventing disease saves many more pesos treating it.
We should likewise continue strengthening PhilHealth so that its benefit packages more accurately reflect the actual cost of modern medical treatment. Universal health coverage must not exist only on paper; it must be felt by every Filipino family standing at a hospital billing counter.
Healthcare is ultimately an investment in people.
A nation cannot speak of inclusive growth while millions remain one illness away from financial ruin. Economic progress loses much of its meaning if ordinary citizens continue to fear that getting sick could erase a lifetime of hard work.
A healthcare system should give every Filipino confidence—not only to live in this country, but also to return to it after a lifetime abroad, knowing that growing old in the Philippines will never mean compromising one’s health, dignity, or peace of mind.
The true measure of a nation’s progress is not merely the height of its buildings or the size of its economy. It is found in the confidence of an ordinary Filipino who knows that when illness strikes, the healthcare system will respond not with another impossible bill, but with competence, compassion, and dignity.
Our Constitution made that promise nearly four decades ago.
The Filipino people are no longer asking for grand promises. They are asking for hospitals they can trust, medicines they can afford, healthcare professionals who choose to stay, and a healthcare system that treats every life with equal dignity.
Until that day comes, the constitutional promise that healthcare belongs to every Filipino remains a promise still waiting to be fully realized.