Kumusta naman ang ‘counseling fee’ charged to OHAT Package even if the service is never given to PLHIVs?

So this treatment hub in Metro Manila started putting “counseling” in the list of to-be-paid services supposedly given to the Filipinos living with HIV under its care. Except that it is actually not provided as a service; just added to the list of collectibles. This can be “justified” with: It’s not a lot, just over a thousand. But since this is collected not just from one person, but from all the PLHIVs enrolled in this hub, then… yeah, it IS a lot.

Alas, this lying in the statement of account (SOA) containing the supposed services given to PLHIVs is not a fluke; it is actually the “norm”. This is how erring treatment hubs earn, profiting from PLHIVs that they pretend to serve but really only steal money from.

Ganito yan (It’s like this):

1. Every Filipino living with HIV and who pay PhilHealth are allocated with P39,500 per year for their treatment, care and support.
2. For sickly PLHIVs, that amount may not be enough as it won’t cover hospitalization, for instance, which may be needed by some.
3. But for healthier PLHIVs, this amount is excessive and will most likely NOT be fully utilized – e.g. there are those who only access their treatment hubs to get antiretroviral medicines (ARVs), whose laboratory tests won’t consume the entire amount, et cetera.
4. The thing, though, is: PhilHealth provides the full amount for PLHIVs, sick or not.
5. And so we have treatment hubs that find “creative” ways to justify keeping the money. As fact: they can actually do this by offering actual services, but… there’s nothing to be earned there. And so the lying happens; pretensions of rendering services that do not exist, but expected to be paid, thereby allowing the “stealing” of the money.

That the OHAT Package is a lifesaver for Filipinos with HIV is a given. We have engaged with too many poorer PLHIVs to know that every help (which is what OHAT Package is) counts.

But that the system is also corruptible is true. Particularly because rendering HIV “services” is now a huge business, an industry in itself, in the Philippines. Here, we’re not even talking of millions of pesos being had/that can be had; we’re talking of billions.

Again, even if a single treatment hub “only”has over 2,000 PLHIV clients, when you multiply that by P39,500, you still get P79,000. And some hubs have MORE THAN 2,000 PLHIV clients. And yet we’ve long been hearing of hubs that do not provide – among others – CD4 count and viral load testing, and “force” their clients to get tested elsewhere, making them pay out of their own pockets for these same tests. Meaning: less “deductions” done to the P39,500, so that the amount “stays” with the profiteers in the treatment hubs.

Nakawan na ang nangyayari (This is already theft).

Let’s stop pretending it’s not by using “kinder” or “more acceptable” terms that will just cover up the stench of what’s really happening.

Because for as long as the likes of “counseling” appears on any PLHIV’s SOA even if it’s not a service that’s actually given, and with the treatment hubs doing this continuing to thrive despite this, then yeah… bulok ang sistema (the system is rotten).