AS the government slashed the budget for this year’s health expenditures, the health care system will be more fragmented, limiting future market opportunities, according to BMI Research, a Fitch Group company.

According to BMI Research, the reduction in health expenditures reflects the government shifting away from prioritizing the health system despite its earlier focus on universal health care (UHC).

Based on the 2025 National Expenditure Program, a P297.6-billion budget was proposed for the health sector, the third-highest among the priority sectors.

After the budget was scrutinized by Congress, President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. signed into law the P6.326 trillion national budget for 2025.

This left the Department of Health (DOH) with a reduced budget of P267.8 billion and no subsidy for the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth).

“Our forecast has been maintained to reflect this spending cut. We expect Filipino government health expenditure to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 5.7 percent over the forecast period 2023 to 2028,” read the commentary issued by BMI Research.