<div id="readability-page-1">“Outraged” medical professionals across the Philippines are urging Congress to curb or scrap what they call “medical pork” – tax money for patient assistance that is channelled through politicians via personally signed guarantee letters – as lawmakers finalise the 2026 national budget.\nAt least 72 medical and health professional organisations have signed a joint petition denouncing the practice, arguing it allows politicians to influence who receives state medical aid in ways that can be used for political advantage, distorting access to care and weakening the country’s Universal Health Care system.\nThe issue has taken on fresh urgency as Congress prepares to send the budget to President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr for signature by Monday, with critics warning that funds are again being diverted away from the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth), the state insurer mandated to deliver universal coverage.\nUnder the current system, when hospital bills exceed PhilHealth coverage, patients can apply for additional state medical assistance through several programmes, including the Medical Assistance to Indigent and Financially Incapacitated Patients (MAIFIP).\n\n\nIn practice, critics say, MAIFIP support often depends on patients securing guarantee letters from lawmakers, typically routed through government-run “Malasakit Centres”, forcing patients and families to seek political mediation during medical emergencies.\nThe political power associated with these assistance funds was on display in May when Senator Christopher “Bong” Go topped the Senate midterm elections. Go authored the law creating Malasakit Centres, which were designed to cut red tape by serving as clearinghouses for assistance from multiple government agencies, including lawmakers’ guarantee letters.\nAntonio Dans, convenor of the Health Professional Alliance and an emeritus professor at the University of the Philippines College of Medicine, said members of dozens of groups were “outraged” by what he described as an entrenched system.\nThe petition denounced what it called the “hijacking of Universal Health Care”, alleging a “deliberate, coordinated effort to divert and politicise” PhilHealth funds.\nDans told This Week in Asia that instead of being fully funded, PhilHealth was being “gutted”, with tax money meant for it diverted to at least five separate programmes that he said duplicated PhilHealth’s function.\nThese include MAIFIP, which the poor can access only by personally obtaining guarantee letters from lawmakers which are then routed through Malasakit Centres, and the Assistance to Individuals in Crisis Situation (AICS), requested through the Department of Social Welfare and Development, often with the help of politicians.\nOn top of these, medical aid can also be requested directly from the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office and the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation. Dans said both agencies were required by law to remit a portion of their gaming profits to PhilHealth, but had not done so to the full extent required.\n\nHe said health professional organisations were watching closely as lawmakers finalised the 2026 budget. If they were not satisfied, he said, they were prepared to raise the matter before the Supreme Court.\nDans said PhilHealth, as an insurance mechanism, was required to maintain a reserve fund of 147 billion pesos (US$2.5 billion) – enough, he said, to finance insurance for 24.5 million largely paying members at 6,000 pesos each.\n“But the budget [for next year] is only 69 billion pesos as of yesterday,” he said. “So, where did the 80 billion pesos go?” he added, criticising what he described as a lack of transparency.\nHe also said the government had fallen short in releasing its legally mandated counterpart funding to PhilHealth, claiming that from 2023 to this year, under the Marcos administration, the resulting funding gap had reached 255 billion pesos.\nDans said PhilHealth funds would be further strained next year by President Marcos’ pledge to implement his “Yakap” (Yaman ng Kalusugan or Health is Wealth) programme, which directs PhilHealth to fund, among other things, free cancer screening tests and medicines for indigents.\nDans said the programme alone would require 198 billion pesos. “So how do you fulfil those promises?” he asked.\nMedical aid as “campaign funds”?\nMedical professionals said they were particularly incensed by lawmakers’ decision to cut PhilHealth’s 2026 budget to 69 billion pesos while diverting 60 billion pesos from PhilHealth to fund MAIFIP.\nDr Tony Leachon, former president of the Philippine College of Physicians, told This Week in Asia that “as a health reform advocate, I cannot hide the deep sense of betrayal I feel over the passage of MAIFIP”.\n“Our lawmakers, political leaders, and even the institutions tasked to protect public health have chosen a path that weakens – not strengthens – our Universal Health Care Law,” he said.\n“UHC was built on a simple, powerful promise: every Filipino should have automatic, rules-based access to care through PhilHealth – no gatekeepers, no endorsements, no politics.”\nWhat is most concerning is that some of the recipients are not poor at all – they are well-to-do families who should not need political mediation to access care.\n- Dr Tony Leachon\n“MAIFIP moves us in the opposite direction. Instead of reinforcing UHC, it sidesteps it entirely, creating a parallel, discretionary system where access to care depends on letters, offices and influence.”\nLeachon said that in his clinical practice, he had been shown guarantee letters issued by lawmakers, with amounts varying widely.\n“What is most concerning is that some of the recipients are not poor at all – they are well-to-do families who should not need political mediation to access care,” he said.\nHe said the process harmed patients. “Delayed delivery of these letters often leads to prolonged hospital stays, unnecessary anxiety for families and avoidable congestion in our wards,” he said.\n“Instead of automatic, rules-based coverage through PhilHealth, patients are forced to wait for paperwork, signatures and endorsements.”\nFollowing public outcry, Senate President Vicente Sotto III told This Week in Asia that lawmakers were moving to remove the need for guarantee letters.\n“The Senate’s stand is to distribute it to the private hospitals through the Department of Health and PhilHealth. A legislator may request but it is no longer necessary,” Sotto said.\nDans said removing guarantee letters addressed only part of the problem, arguing that the existence of multiple assistance programmes fragmented care and complicated access for patients.\n“Imagine, you are already in a crisis,” he said. “If the PhilHealth amount isn’t enough, you have to line up for MAIFIP. If that isn’t enough, you go to PCSO and Pagcor or to AICS.”\n“Each one is a different line, a different queue,” he said. “Each one is a different office and each one has different regulations.”\n“You need to beg,” he said.\nDans said a soon-to-be-released study by medical professionals found that allocations under the guarantee-letter system discriminated against the poor.\nGuarantee letters issued by lawmakers to indigents averaged about 10,000 pesos each, he said, while those issued to beneficiaries in richer income groups averaged more than 30,000 pesos.\n“I don’t think you could call it an indigent fund if that’s what it’s being spent for,” Dans said. “Because the poor are getting very little from this.”\n“It’s really campaign funds,” he concluded.\n</div>

<p>Philippine doctors are urging Congress to eliminate 'medical pork,' where tax money for patient aid is channeled through politicians, distorting access to healthcare. 72 medical organizations have petitioned against this practice, which they argue politicizes healthcare funds and weakens Universal Health Care. Critics highlight the diversion of funds from PhilHealth, the state insurer, to other programs requiring political mediation. The issue is urgent as the 2026 budget is finalized, with potential Supreme Court action if unsatisfied.</p>

‘Outraged’ Philippine doctors call on Congress to rein in lawmakers’ ‘medical pork’