President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. has received a comprehensive suite of policy recommendations from the Private Sector Advisory Council – Healthcare Sector (PSAC-Healthcare) designed to drastically lower medical expenses for Filipino families and broaden access to essential medicines and services across underserved communities. Presented during the council’s 11th sector meeting at Malacañan Palace on October 21, the initiative responds directly to the growing financial strain borne by households facing rising hospital bills, expensive maintenance drugs, and long travel times for routine medical consultations.
The executive backing signals a significant policy shift toward deep public-private collaboration, prioritizing concrete relief for health consumers nationwide. At the core of the council’s recommendations is the expansion of the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation’s (PhilHealth) flagship YAKAP and GAMOT programs. Designed to minimize out-of-pocket patient spending, YAKAP delivers primary care services and consultations, while GAMOT covers outpatient essential medications. Expanding these mechanisms ensures that consumers, particularly those managing chronic long-term conditions that demand continuous checkups and maintenance therapy, experience immediate, tangible reductions in daily healthcare costs.
Recent metrics underscore the operational scale and policy momentum behind these consumer-facing programs. As of October 8, 2026, the YAKAP initiative reached 22.42 million registered beneficiaries across 4,677 accredited clinics nationwide, while GAMOT provided covered prescription drugs to 1.28 million patients through 3,483 partner pharmacies. To further streamline consumer access, the council voiced strong support for PhilHealth’s ongoing digital transformation via the eGovPH mobile application, enabling members to directly track coverage, locate nearby providers, and monitor drug benefits. PSAC-Healthcare Lead Paolo Borromeo emphasized that aligning government operations with private sector resources aims to make high-quality medical attention available closer to home so families no longer face financial ruin when seeking treatment.
Beyond direct financial relief, the advisory panel put forward transformative regulatory proposals to eliminate geographic and administrative bottlenecks for consumers. To improve drug availability in remote areas lacking full-scale pharmacies, PSAC proposed a pilot sandbox program running from November 2026 to January 2027. This initiative would allow licensed pharmacists to digitally supervise multiple community pharmacy sites staffed by trained on-site assistants, maintaining safety standards while bringing essential medicines to remote towns. Concurrently, the council urged further acceleration of drug and vaccine approvals at the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which cleared 6,971 product registration applications between January and September 2026—up from 4,674 over the same period in 2025—to expand treatment choices for patients.
To sustain healthcare infrastructure, PSAC highlighted the necessity of prompt provider reimbursements, citing PhilHealth’s PHP331 billion in paid claims as of October 10, 2026, against a full-year target of PHP425 billion. Looking toward 2027, the advisory body recommended updating clinical licensing standards, expanding public-private partnerships, bolstering domestic clinical trial capabilities, and protecting medical facilities from climate disruptions. Council leaders stressed that the ultimate measure of these policy reforms lies in direct consumer impact: ensuring Filipino households spend significantly less on life-saving care while receiving timely, dignified medical attention.
