Leachon urges end to guarantee letters in healthcare

Health reform advocate Dr. Tony Leachon called for the abolition of guarantee letters (GLs) and instead batted for automatic payment through the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth).

"For too long, indigent Filipino patients have been forced to beg, queue, and wait for discretionary guarantee letters—tokens of assistance that depend not on need, but on access, influence, and political favor," Leachon said in a statement sent to the DAILY TRIBUNE.

"This system has trapped our most vulnerable in cycles of uncertainty, humiliation, and delayed care," he added.

Leachon noted that the shift to automatic PhilHealth payments would put an end to what he called a healthcare injustice.

"By abolishing guarantee letters and consolidating aid under automatic PhilHealth payments, we move from a fragmented, politicized system to one grounded in transparency, accountability, and fairness. It is not just administrative reform—it is a moral correction," he said.

He further explained that under the Universal Health Care law, PhilHealth is mandated to provide standardized, lawful, and predictable support that is "free from discretion, free from politics, and free from the inequities that have long plagued medical assistance programs."

"This reform restores what should never have been compromised: the dignity of every patient and the integrity of our health institutions."

In July, the Department of Health (DOH) said it was better to deliver government aid through the state insurer rather than through GLs.

DOH Spokesperson and Assistant Secretary made the statement after several private hospitals said they will not honor GLs issued by government officials to indigent patients, unless payment of services rendered under the government's Medical Assistance for Indigent and Financially Incapacitated Patients (MAIFIP) program, amounting to over P500 million, has been made.

Meanwhile, in a press briefing in July, Palace press officer Claire Castro assured that the DOH has enough funds to settle the claims of private hospitals for services and treatments provided to indigent patients.