23/12/2025
No Filipino should ever beg for healthcare. No to MAIFIP.
๐๐ญ๐๐ญ๐๐ฆ๐๐ง๐ญ ๐จ๐ ๐๐๐๐ฅ๐ญ๐ก๐๐๐ซ๐ ๐๐ซ๐จ๐๐๐ฌ๐ฌ๐ข๐จ๐ง๐๐ฅ๐ฌ ๐จ๐ง ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐๐ข๐๐๐ฆ ๐๐ฎ๐๐ ๐๐ญ ๐๐ฅ๐ฅ๐จ๐๐๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง ๐๐จ๐ซ ๐๐ก๐ข๐ฅ๐ก๐๐๐ฅ๐ญ๐ก ๐๐ง๐ ๐๐๐๐
๐๐
The Bicameral Conference Committee for the 2026 General Appropriations Bill (House Bill 4058) raises the budget for the Medical Assistance to Indigent and Financially Incapacitated Patients (MAIFIP) program to โฑ51 billion while allocating โฑ69.78 billion for the PhilHealth insurance premiums for the poor. Despite the increase of PhP 16.52 billion, this allocation still falls short of the governmentโs obligation under the Universal Health Care (UHC).
The UHC Act mandates the National Government to fully subsidize the premiums of 24.5 million indirect contributors. Therefore, the PhilHealth budget for 2026 should be at least โฑ147 billion. The current allocation of โฑ69.78 billion leaves a significant funding gap.
Expanding MAIFIP for 1.2 million Filipinos is important, but not at the cost of insurance for 24.5 million countrymen who cannot afford it. Even if guarantee letters are removed, MAIFIP shifts health care from a rights-based approach to one based on individual discretion, removing safeguards required by the UHC Act that assure cost-effectiveness, affordability, and equitable distribution of benefits.
We respectfully urge Congress and President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. to, once and for all, provide the appropriate budget for PhilHealth and to reduce and gradually phase out MAIFIP.
The government should move beyond promises of greater health benefits and ensure adequate funding to fulfill these commitments.
Signed:
1. Philippine Medical Association
2. Philippine College of Physicians
3. Philippine College of Surgeons
4. Philippine Association of Medical Technologists
5. Philippine League of Government and Private Midwives Inc.
6. Philippine Pharmacists Association
7. Alliance for Improving Health Outcomes
8. Ang NARS
9. Asia-Pacific Center for Evidence-Based Health Care
10. Association of Hand Surgeons of the Philippines
11. Child Neurology Society Philippines
12. Kalusugan ng Mag-Ina (KMI)
13. Pain Society of the Philippines
14. Pediatric Nephrology Society of the Philippines
15. Philippine Academic Society of Social and Community Medicine
16. Philippine Academy for Head and Neck Surgery
17. Philippine Academy of Family Physicians
18. Philippine Academy of Occupational Therapists
19. Philippine Academy of Ophthalmology
20. Philippine Academy of Pediatric Pulmonologists
21. Philippine Academy of Rehabilitation Medicine
22. Philippine Addiction Specialists Society
23. Philippine Ambulatory Pediatric Association, Inc
24. Philippine Association of Medical Journal Editors
25. Philippine Association of Nutrition
26. Philippine Association of Plastic, Reconstructive and Aesthetic Surgeons
27. Philippine Association of Speech-Language Pathologists
28. Philippine College of Adult Nephrology
29. Philippine College of Chest Physicians
30. Philippine College of Emergency Medicine
31. Philippine College of Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism
32. Philippine College of Geriatric Medicine
33. Philippine Dermatological Society
34. Philippine Heart Association
35. Pediatric Infectious Disease Society of the Philippines
36. Philippine League Against Epilepsy
37. Philippine Lipid and Atherosclerosis Society
38. Philippine Neurological Association
39. Philippine Obstetrical and Gynecological Society
40. Philippine Orthopaedic Association
41. Philippine Pediatric Society
42. Philippine Physical Therapy Association
43. Philippine Psychiatric Association
44. Philippine Rheumatology Association
45. Philippine Society for Cervical Pathology and Colposcopy
46. Philippine Society for Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
47. Philippine Society for Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics
48. Philippine Society for Gynecologic Endoscopy
49. Philippine Society for Literature and Narrative Medicine
50. Philippine Society for Microbiology and Infectious Diseases
51. Philippine Society for Reproductive Medicine
52. Philippine Society for Urogynecology and Reconstructive Pelvic Surgery
53. Philippine Society of Adolescent Medicine Specialists, Inc
54. Philippine Society of Cardiovascular Catheterization and Interventions
55. Philippine Society of Climacteric Medicine
56. Philippine Society of Clinical and Occupational Toxicology
57. Philippine Society of Experimental and Clinical Pharmacology
58. Philippine Society of Gastroenterology
59. Philippine Society of General Internal Medicine
60. Philippine Society of Hospice and Palliative Medicine
61. Philippine Society of Hypertension
62. Philippine Society of Medical Oncology
63. Philippine Society of Nephrology
64. Philippine Society of Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery
65. Philippine Society of Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery
66. Philippine Society of Pediatric Hematology
67. Philippine Society of Public Health Physicians
68. Philippine Spine Society
69. Private Hospitals Association of the Philippines
70. Society of Pediatric Critical Care Medicine Philippines
71. Society of Gynecologic Oncologists of the Philippines
