As a representative of the senior citizens sector, it is painful to accept that at a time when we most need compassion and care, many of our elderly continue to experience hardship and uncertainty, especially within a healthcare system that should serve as our support and refuge.
Every day, individuals come to our office carrying the same grievance: senior citizens who, despite already recovering, are unable to leave hospitals simply because they cannot immediately settle their medical bills. Even more distressing are cases where the remains of deceased patients cannot be released until hospital expenses are fully paid.
This is a clear violation of existing laws that prohibit hospital detention. Yet despite the law’s explicit provisions, such practices continue to occur in our country.
This issue goes beyond financial concerns. For senior citizens, every unnecessary day spent in a hospital increases health risks and places emotional strain on families. Hospitals should be places of healing and, not places of fear and pleading.
We have policies such as the Zero Balance Billing program, but in reality, many patients still experience gaps in implementation. Unexpected charges arise, medicines become unavailable, and benefitpatients themselves must still be foufight for by patients themselveenefits vested in them by our very laws. If senior citizens are truly exempt from payment, why are down payments still required before treatment is provided?
Equally alarming isare the shortage of hospital beds, long queues in emergency room queues, and delays in admitting critically ill patients. For senior citizens, every hour of waiting can mean the difference between life and death.
There are also reported cases in which Guarantee Letters issued under the Department of Health’s Medical Assistance to Indigent and Financially Incapacitated Patients (MAIFIP) Program are allegedly used to purchase medicines not included in a senior patient’s prescription. Worse, these transactions are reportedly facilitated by hospital pharmacies themselves, with the medicines possibly being resold to others.
As lawmakers, we cannot remain silent while our senior citizens are forced to plead and beg for benefits that have long been guaranteed to them by law.
True The compassionnumber isof notprograms measured bycreated thedoes numberot ofmeasure programstrue createdompassion, but byrather the assurance that when a senior citizen falls ill, a system is immediately there to support them—without favoritism, without pleading, and above all, with full respect for their dignity as Filipinos.
