The total health expenditure in the country went up by 9.4 percent in 2005, from P165.3 billion in 2004 to P180.8 billion in 2005. This could largely be attributed to the increase in health benefit payments from social insurance, such as the Employees’ Compensation and the PhilHealth. Compared with the previous year, the growth in 2005 was slower than the 11.9 percent increase in 2004. 

Other findings based on the results of the 2005 Philippine National Health Accounts (PNHA) are:

• With the total health expenditure growing faster than the population, per capita health spending went up by P142 from P1,978 in 2004 to P2,120 in 2005 or a 7.2 percent increase.
• The share of health expenditure to GDP was lower at 3.3 percent in 2005 compared to previous year’s 3.4 percent.  It is still below the 5 percent standard set by the World Health Organization (WHO) for developing countries.  On the other hand, the share of health expenditure to GNP remained at 3.1 percent which is within the National Objectives for Health (NOH) target of 3-4 percent
• Health benefit payments from social insurance showed the highest growth rate at 24.9 percent or a P4.0 billion increase in 2005. This resulted from the big hike in payments from Employees' Compensation at 42.4 percent and PhilHealth at  24.4 percent.
• The government’s target to depend less on out-of-pocket payments and provide more social health insurance is still far from being realized as the share of out-of-pocket payments even increased to 49 percent while the share of social insurance payments increased only slightly to 11 percent in 2005.  Based on the Health Sector Reform Agenda (HSRA), the target for out-of-pocket is 20 percent while the target for social insurance is 30 percent.  Meanwhile, the share of government on health expenditure declined to 29 percent which is also below the HSRA target of 40 percent.

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 decelerating compared to the 4.7 percent growth in 2004.

The 2005 PNHA, the eighth publication  released by the National Statistical Coordination Board (NSCB) on health accounts, presents information on how much is spent on health care services and who is paying for these services. These information are useful in analyzing the appropriateness of the levels, composition and structure of health expenditure, especially those of the government.   The data presented will also help determine whether the aggregate health care spending from all sources, that is, the government, social insurance sector and private sector, is adequate to meet minimum requirements and identify probable areas of inefficiencies in allocating health care resources.  The 2005 PNHA publication covers the estimates of health expenditure in the country for the years 1994 to 2005.

ROMULO A. VIROLA
Secretary General

Contact Persons:

Cynthia S. Regalado and Racquel Dolores V. Sabeñano
Telefax : 890-9678
E-mail : cs.regalado@nscb.gov.ph / rdv.sabenano@nscb.gov.ph

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