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House minority lawmakers on Monday, Aug. 4, delivered what they called their "Kontra-SONA (State of the Nation Address)" privilege speech, and hit President Marcos' claim that Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) benefits are now better than ever. (Video courtesy of House of Representatives)

READ: https://mb.com.ph/2025/08/04/not-the-reality-minority-solons-hit-marcos-achievement-report-on-health

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Transcript
00:00While we hear of free hospitalization in the UH-run hospital,
00:06the reality on the ground, especially in the provinces,
00:08is that many provincial, district, and municipal hospitals still lack resource.
00:16Ang totoo, sa maraming probinsya, kailangan pa ring magbayad kahit simpleng gamutan.
00:24WHO data shows the Philippines has only one hospital bed per 1,000 people,
00:33far below the global average of 2.7 and the World Health Organization standard of 3 to 5.
00:43Compare this to hundreds of provincial districts and municipal hospitals serving most Filipinos,
00:51especially in far-flung areas.
00:54The President's health claims sounded impressive until you asked someone who actually went to the hospital.
01:02PhilHealth daw covers emergency outpatient care.
01:06Pero ang kwento ng mga pasyente, konsumisyon na nga ang sakit, konsumisyon pa ang bill.
01:12The agency says reimbursement is possible, but in an emergency, who has time and money for a bono.
01:20Sa dami ng kwentong ganito ang tanong, sino ba ang niloloko natin?
01:26The President says there's now a doctor in every town.
01:31Good.
01:32But a lone doctor without medicine, without equipment, without trained staff, is not a health system.
01:39That's a photo op waiting to happen.
01:41Zero balance billing has also been around for years, but walk into any public hospital and ask if it's real.
01:50Patients still choose not to seek treatment, afraid of the bill that might bury them deeper than the illness.
01:57If the goal is universal health care, then let's stop pretending we have arrived.
02:03We're still stuck in triage.
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