Free HealthCare, Becoming Less and Less

Filed in archive News , Opinion on March 27, 2006

I'm not sure if readers of this blog have already guessed that I am based and born in the Philippines - a country in Asia where healthcare is expensive, and something that the government has very little support of. In result, healthcare for the poor and the uninsured is horrible. I am ashamed to say, but this is a country where people just die for lack of healthcare administration, for lack of money.

Today I bumped into the most intriguing news on healthcare. Even in the western world, I am a shocked to read that fewer physicians are offering free medical care:

The percentage of physicians who provide free care to the poor has dropped over the past decade, signaling a growing problem for the uninsured, a survey suggests.

About three-quarters of physicians provided charity care in the mid-1990s, compared with about two-thirds now, according to a study released Thursday by the Center for Studying Health System Change.

The numbers have declined across all major specialties. The highest rate of free care, 78.8 percent, comes from surgeons, perhaps because many of these doctors treat uninsured patients in emergency rooms.

I guess the monetary value on healthcare is becoming a global issue. Read more at CNN Health.