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STATE-SUPPORTED programs may have boosted Filipinos’ health
spending in 2005 from a year earlier, but remain below international
norms, the National Statistical Coordination Board (NSCB) said
Friday.
In a statement, Romulo A. Virola, NSCB
secretary-general, said per capita spending, or the amount spent for
every Filipino, inched up by 7.2 percent to P2,120 in 2005
from P1,978 a year earlier.
He said the increase was a result of higher
total health expenditure in the country, which went up by 9.4
percent to P180.8 billion in 2005 from P165.3 billion in 2004.
“This could largely be attributed to the
increase in health benefit payments from social insurance, such as
the Employees’ Compensation and the PhilHealth,” Virola said,
referring to two mandatory health programs.
The share of health expenditure to gross
domestic product (GDP), which is a measure of the size of the
economy, however, was lower at 3.3 percent in 2005 compared with the
previous year’s 3.4 percent.
“It is still below the five percent standard
set by the World Health Organization [WHO] for developing
countries,” Virola said.
The share of health expenditure to gross
national product remained at 3.1 percent, or within the
National Objectives for Health (NOH) target of three to four
percent. Health benefit payments from social insurance showed the
highest growth rate at 24.9 percent, or a P4-billion increase in
2005.
In real terms, the total health expenditure went
up by 4.7 percent in 2005, growing slower than the previous year’s
6.9-percent increase. Per capita health spending also went up
by 2.6 percent in 2005, but decelerated from the 4.7 percent growth
in 2004.
-- Darwin G. Amojelar
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