Administration presidential candidate Gilberto “Gibo” Teodoro Jr. said Tuesday that he has prioritized wide-ranging reforms in public health care that would provide Filipinos inexpensive medical coverage.

Teodoro said that while PhilHealth is a mass-based medical-care program paid out of government funds, it needs an infusion of additional funds and resources to expand the coverage of medical benefits.

“Additional resources allocated by the government for PhilHealth will surely redound to the benefits of the Filipino masses,” Teodoro said.

He stressed the need for local governments to construct their own hospitals and clinics to serve the needs of their constituencies.

“Our dream is for all municipalities to have their own modern hospitals that could dispense health care at less costs,” Teodoro said.

PhilHealth, managed by the Philippine Health Insurance Corp., now has more than 81 million members who pay an individual monthly premium of P100.

Members receive benefits such as subsidy for room and board, drugs and medicines, laboratories fee, operating room and professional fees for confinements, and surgery, dialysis and cancer treatment procedures in accredited hospitals and free-standing clinics.

Teodoro also cited the need to have a professional core of barangay health workers and said he will also push for a program to further professionalize them as responsible agents of public health care. (Aris R. Ilagan)