A POOR MAN’S HEALTH DILEMMA

A POOR MAN’S HEALTH DILEMMA My dear countrymen, recently, I found out that my part-time gardener’s son has a problem with his colon. Apparently, he is having a problem with his bowel movements, and it was suggested to him that he needs a colonoscopy. Without his knowing it, I contacted some friends at PHILHEALTH to ask them whether it is covered or not, and I was happy to hear the good news that it is covered. I also contacted some friends at PCSO, and they also said that a guarantee-letter (GL) could be issued for it. I was also happy to hear that good news from PCSO, until another friend told me that there is still one problem to be solved. You see, my part time gardener who is also a local tricycle driver in our village does not have the money to spend for the confinement of his son at a local hospital. That is what the dilemma is. Although PHILHEALTH will cover the procedure, and although PCSO will pay for some of the hospital charges, he still needs some extra money to spend for transportation in going to and from the hospital, plus other expenses. That may not be too much money to spend, but the bigger problem could be the professional fees of the doctors, which PCSO will not pay for, and which PHILHEALTH may not also pay for. There is also a “chicken and the egg” question that further complicates this dilemma that I am talking about. Since the hospital could not produce an abstract of billings not unless the patient is confined, the PHILHEALTH could not compute which of the charges will be covered or not, and the PCSO could also not compute how much GL would be necessary. The only way for the patient or his or her family to avoid this dilemma is to have some extra or reserve money with them when they enter the hospital, and often, they do not have that. In one of his posts, my Facebook friend Mr. Boy Montelibano said that the rich lawmakers who are reviewing the health- related laws could not feel these problems, because they do not experience them. Mr. Montelibano said that some of them do not even go to the local hospitals for treatment, because they go abroad for that. Can you imagine that? Some poor people could not even afford the bus fare to go to the hospital, while the rich people could afford to pay for the airplane fare to get treated abroad. Can the government find a way to solve this dilemma? Perhaps all the LGUs could be required to set aside a fund for this purpose? If not the LGUs, perhaps the DSWD could be provided with more funds so that they could be the one to solve this problem? I could be accused of daydreaming, but I wish that the day will come when patients will no longer have to spend a single centavo when they enter a public hospital. Is that not one of the goals of the Universal Healthcare Law? And isn’t there supposed to be a law that requires all private hospital to have charity wards reserved for 10% of their patients? Your friend, IKE SENERES/12-30-24/visit my blog senseneres.blogspot.com