Pros and Cons of Medicare Portability in the Philippines

by Yoly Tumangan Tubalinal.
March 1, 2012
One of the things in the wish list of many Filipino Americans who are part of a generation of baby boomers is to see the U.S. Congress extend MEDICARE benefits to those who want to retire in the Philippines. Their productive years now gone, FilAm retirees just long to go back to the Philippines, the country they will always call home. It is at this stage in their lives, when their children have graduated from college, gotten a job and are each living independently or raising a family of their own, that the father and/or mother starts looking more seriously at retirement places and what always catches their fancy? PHILIPPINES, of course!
Fresh from our latest “balikbayan” trip to the Philippines where we spent the month of December and enjoyed Christmas with our brothers and sisters, nephews and nieces, grandchildren and long lost friends, Bart and I have found ourselves considering the idea of going home for good when the time is right. Like most others we believe we’re better off living in the Philippines despite the pollution, traffic, hot weather and the many irritating ways and practices of people in the banks, government offices and the like. Though it isn’t quite easy to spell them out, there are redeeming factors that can more than make up for these irritants. It must also be that innate love of country that makes the idea of going back for good more fascinating and desirable than it actually is.
But the fear of getting sick in a country where a dying patient without medical insurance is refused treatment and care at the ER is a big stumbling block to FilAms’ dream of retiring in the Philippines. If only we could bring our Medicare insurance to the Philippines… It would be beneficial not only to the Filipino American retirees and the Philippines but also to the U.S. government. Health care cost in the Philippines is only a fraction of its cost in the U.S. It will save the U.S. government money and will ease up the burden of caring for its old and ailing population.
While our thought processes seem to point to only one direction – i.e. the pros of extending Medicare benefits to Filipino Americans outside of the U.S., there are a few who believe that lobbying for Medicare portability is only a waste of time… “a punch in the moon.” In this issue, VOICES features 2 opposing views from two prominent community leaders. Let’s hear them.