PSA allows survey on medical assistance program MAIFIP's impact

The Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) on Wednesday announced it has cleared the conduct of a survey aiming to determine the impact and assess the implementation of the Medical Assistance to Indigent and Financially Incapacitated Patients (MAIFIP) Program.

In a statement, the PSA said it granted the survey clearance for Department of Health’s (DOH) “PIDS-DOH 2026 GAA SP Project: Evaluation of the Medical Assistance for Indigent and Financially Incapacitated Patients (MAIFIP) and Other Public Health Programs of the Department of Health – Patient Exit Survey for MAIFIP and Proxy Decision-Makers.”

The survey, to be conducted by the Philippine Institute for Development Studies (PIDS) aims to evaluate the impact and implementation of the MAIFIP and assess how it affects patient outcomes and financial protection.

The MAIFIP has faced scrutiny for relying heavily on politicians' guarantee letters, which critics say turns basic healthcare access into a system of political favors.

The DOH has since barred politicians from distributing cash and other forms of financial assistance in relation to the MAIFIP.

The PSA, meanwhile, said the study aims to contribute to the “dearth of empirical evidence on the program’s implementation and generate evidence-based policy recommendations to better align program design with service demand, address implementation challenges, and assess the program’s impacts on patient financial protection and hospital revenues.”

The Statistics bureau survey will gather the following data items:
• Sociodemographic characteristics
• Household assets, income, and expenditures on food, non-food items, and health and medical needs
• Patients’ recent admission information, including total hospital bill breakdown, and fund sources
• MAIFIP application process experience
• Perceptions about the MAIFIP and anxiety on hospital expenditures

The PSA said the survey will be conducted in the National Capital Region (NCR), Regions I, II, III, IV-A, VII, VIII, IX, XI, and XIII, the Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR), and the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM), “with a total budget allocation of approximately P4.7 million.”

The data collection is scheduled from October 5 to 30, 2026.

The PSA is targeting to release the survey results on December 30, 2026.

“The survey has been reviewed and cleared under the Statistical Survey Review and Clearance System (SSRCS), a mechanism implemented by the PSA pursuant to Rule 28 of the Implementing Rules and Regulations of Republic Act No. 10625,” it said.

“The PSA strongly encourages all sampled individual MAIFIP and non-MAIFIP beneficiaries to actively participate in the survey by providing accurate and truthful information for data-driven improvements in public health programs and patient financial protection,” it added. — BM, GMA News