Lawmaker: Obamacare to create bigger demand for Pinoy healthcare professionals

Obamacare, or the Affordable Care Act (ACA) of the US, will stimulate the demand for more nurses and in America that would possibly benefit Filipinos, a Philippine lawmaker said on Saturday.

In a statement, Pasig City Rep. Roman Romulo said that the US Supreme Court's ruling allowing the government to give tax subsidies for the healthcare of poor and middle-class Americans will create new demands for healthcare services.

He said that providing US citizens with greater access to healthcare could also mean new demands for "Filipino nurses, physical and occupational therapists, pharmacists, speech pathologists, and other health care workers."

“A greater number of Americans will now have access to health care, especially hospitalization... Simply put, the US hospital industry is bound to boom, and so will their demand for foreign staff,” he said.

Moreover, he said US health insurance companies may also expand their business process outsourcing (BPO) in the Philippines due to higher operating costs in their homeland.

“They will be compelled to transfer more contact center, insurance claims processing, clinical support analysis, medical coding, and other non-core, business support jobs to the Philippines,” he said.

37.5% more US NCLEX-takers in 2015

In a separate statement on Friday, Cebu Rep. Gerald Anthony Gullas Jr. said there were 37.5 percent more first-time US National Licensure Examination (NCLEX) takers in the first half of 2015 compared to the same period in 2014.

Gullas considers the number of first-time NCLEX-takers a reliable indicator for the number of nurses who are trying to find employment in the US, but said they may look for employment in other countries.

"There’s still sizeable foreign demand for Filipino nurses in Northern Europe, the Middle East and elsewhere,” he said.

Gullas' statement indicated that a total of 158,551 Filipino nurses have taken the NCLEX for the first time since 1995. This number is expected to increase in 2015.

On the other hand, the Professional Regulation Commission (PRC) has issued licenses to 15,292 new nurses in 2015, excluding the 9,707 May licensure exam passers.

A total of 22,202 nurses received their licenses from the PRC in 2014 alone. — Rie Takumi/LBG, GMA News

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

PCG: China’s bullying in West Philippine Sea undermines international law --- Ghio Ong - The Philippine Star

MANILA, Philippines — Letting China sustain its aggression in the West Philippine Sea would make other countries doubt the strength of international law currently being asserted by the Philippines, Commodore Jay Tarriela of the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) said. “Allowing China to blatantly disregard the established rules-based order threatens the very foundation that we all depend on,” he wrote in a post on X last Tuesday. He added, “If we permit this, countries worldwide may forget why this order was created in the first place. Nations could begin to doubt the significance of adhering to international law if powerful bullies can easily violate it.” Tarriela also said defiance of other countries to a rules-based order would result in the prevalence of cruelty. He wrote, “This could lead us back to a time when might makes right, undermining the global structures that keep human greed, savagery and barbarism in check. Such a scenario would not only invite challenges from aggressive ...
Read more

China ships maintain presence in key West Philippine Sea areas --- Michael Punongbayan - The Philippine Star

STAR / Michael Varcas MANILA, Philippines — While Chinese vessels in the West Philippine Sea (WPS) have decreased in number, they have maintained a presence in three key land features where naval and coast guard ships have intensified operations in the past seven days, according to the Philippine Navy. Latest monitoring by the Philippine Navy showed armed ships of the People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) maintaining a menacing presence around the grounded BRP Sierra Madre in Ayungin Shoal, Panatag Shoal and Escoda Shoal. According to the Philippine Navy, there are 17 Chinese military vessels and 28 China Coast Guard (CCG) boats spotted inside the country’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ) between Sept. 23 and 30, or one vessel more than in the previous week Sept.17-23. Five of the warships were seen roaming around the vicinity of Escoda Shoal, along with 10 CCG vessels and 12 maritime militia vessels (MMVs). There are also two PLAN ships in Ayungin Shoal as well as 10 CCG boats and 12...
Read more

Social media seen as cause of rising intermarriages --- Helen Flores - The Philippine Star

MANILA, Philippines — The Commission on Filipinos Overseas (CFO) sees social media as the main reason for the rising number of Filipinos marrying or becoming partners of foreign nationals. In 2022, the CFO recorded 6,854 marriages or partnerships with foreign nationals, a 40.1 percent increase from the 4,891 “intermarriages” recorded in 2021. “First of all, what we see in the increase in the marriage rate of Filipinos or Filipinos with foreign partners is because of social media, (that) is number one; matchings; letters, introduction of their friends,” CFO chairperson Romulo Arugay said at the Bagong Pilipinas Ngayon public briefing yesterday. Arugay said the agency has been registering a high number of intermarriages since 2007, but the figures went down during the COVID-19 pandemic. From over 6,500 Filipinos who married foreign nationals, only 600 are men, he said. Most of them are married to Americans, Japanese, Germans, Canadians and Australians, Arugay said. Arugay warned Fi...
Read more