Bills filed to raise health budget, remove VAT on medicines

THE MAKABAYAN Bloc on Monday filed two bills that seek to boost public health funding and eliminate value-added tax (VAT) on essential medicines and nutritional products.

Party-list Rep. Antonio L. Tinio, along with Party-list Reps. Sarah Jane I. Elago and Renee Louise M. Co, filed a bill that would mandate at least 5% of gross domestic product (GDP) for health services, and a separate bill for VAT exemption of all essential medicines.

“Health is right, not a commodity for the wealthy. Yet the government spends only P448 billion — just 1.45% of GDP — on health. This is four times less than neighboring countries,” Mr. Tinio said in the statement.

Under the proposal, health funding will increase to approximately P1.4 trillion, in line with World Health Organization (WHO) standards.

According to Mr. Tinio, 42.7% of Filipinos’ total health spending is out-of-pocket, amounting to P615.16 billion per year.

“If we raise the health budget to 5% of GDP, we can provide living wages for health workers, hire sufficient health professionals, and make health services free for all Filipinos,” he said.

According to the lawmaker, the funds could be drawn from debt servicing, confidential funds, and pork barrel allocations, as well as progressive taxation such as wealth tax.

Mr. Tinio also criticized the limited scope of the VAT exemption on medicines, which only covers 2,263 out of approximately 50, 000 medicines.

“Common medicines like paracetamol, vitamins, and antibiotics remain taxable. Filipinos pay 259 to 1600% more for medicines than patients in India, Pakistan, and Thailand,” he said. — Pexcel John Bacon