Despite the availability of other financing mechanisms for health care from the public and private sector, households continue to bear the biggest burden in covering health care costs in the country, data released by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) showed.
The PSA data showed that household out-of-pocket payments emerged as the leading contributor to health care financing last year, accounting for 44.4 percent of the total current health expenditure (CHE).
Government schemes and compulsory contributory health care financing schemes followed closely, comprising 42.6 percent of the CHE.
Meanwhile, voluntary health care payment schemes made up the remaining 13 percent.
The PSA also reported the country’s total health expenditure (THE), at current prices, amounted to P1.44 trillion in 2023, an increase of 17 percent from the P1.23 trillion expenditure in 2022.
THE recorded a 5.9 percent share to the goss domestic product in 2023.
The CHE contributed 86.3 percent to THE, while the health capital formation expenditure (HK) shared 13.7 percent in 2023.
Both CHE and HK recorded increases of 9.2 percent and 113.6 percent, respectively.
On a per capita basis, health spending went up to P11,083 in 2023, an increase of 8.3 percent from the P10,238 expense in 2022.
