Sicko

This is not a review of Michael Moore's documentary.

At some point in my life I worked for/with an HMO. I really thought HMOs were a great idea. The idea was to provide health care, which is expensive and difficult to plan for. People could pay for plans as individuals, or get them as benefits provided by the companies they work for.

I never ever needed to use an HMO then. When I worked for PLDT I was provided complete and total coverage. It was quite awesome. I never got to use it, although my mother was able to reimburse some of her pharmaceutical costs through a separate HMO program for dependents and/or relatives of employees. I have a friend who had two major operations in as many years without spending a cent, both at the Asian Hospital in Alabang. That's quite remarkable.

I saw Michael Moore's Sicko some time ago. It's very difficult to watch it without getting angry. It supposedly documents the failures of the American Healthcare system while comparing it starkly against the seemingly utopian universal healthcare systems of countries such as Canada, UK, France, and Cuba (yes, Cuba).


I'm particularly alarmed because the Philippine HMO system is supposed to be based on the US model. Fortunately I haven't really heard of horror stories comparable to those documented in Sicko. Then again, both my parents are no longer covered by their former companies' health insurance since their retirement. My parents and Alecon's parents are not getting any younger and their medical needs are becoming more complex over time. This is a frightening scenario for both Alecon and myself - as these potentially prohibitive expenses in support of our parents are probably the biggest threats to our financial independence.

Alecon, as long as she works for PAGCOR has very good coverage for her folks. I can't say the same for myself.

This weekend I'll be able to test my personal HMO (provided by my employer) for the first time. Last month Alecon used her own benefit when I was rushed (more due to fuss than an actual emergency) to the emergency room at Cardinal Santos Medical Center in San Juan.

According to MedServ, I have unlimited medical consultations but I cannot reimburse any pharmaceutical expenses. All I need is to coordinate with the office of the designated MedServ representative at Cardinal Santos once. That shouldn't be a problem, but I guess it's the pharmaceutical expenses that really make medication expensive on the long term.


MedServ has a good reputation and is the preferred HMO of companies like Jollibee. We'll see if they live up to their reputation. I'm no expert in the actuarial science that goes into the HMO business - but I'm granted this coverage with only the corporate medical checkup as a screening process. In my experience working for/with an HMO it's actually difficult and rare to find individual policy holders. Most policy holders are corporate employees.

This makes me think that the underhanded tactics documented in Sicko won't be happening as much here (HMOs were shown to systematically and purposely sabotage policy holders to disqualify their claims). It's comforting in a way that I can rely on something outside of human discretion. However, that's a sad thing too I think.