Listening to the healthcare section of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s fifth State of the Nation Address, I found myself thinking less about what was said than about what could be added to the conversation.
The President highlighted important priorities: strengthening Universal Health Care, expanding PhilHealth benefits, investing in preventive care, improving access to medicines, building more healthcare facilities, supporting medical scholarships, and expanding programs such as BUCAS and specialty centers. These are essential investments for millions of Filipinos.
But the conversation should not end with healthcare delivery alone. We should also ask whether we are building a healthcare system that can become one of the country’s engines of innovation, investment, and economic growth.
Two weeks earlier, I participated in a panel at Bio Asia Taiwan alongside global healthcare investors, including representatives from Vivo Capital. The contrast was striking. Rather than discussing hospital budgets or insurance reimbursement, governments, investors, scientists, and entrepreneurs were asking different questions:
How do we attract biotechnology companies?
