SURESERV, the first and only closed loop microfinance mobile app, has been launched to make health care accessible to more Filipinos, especially those who belong in the working-class sector.
“Looking at the health-care situation in the Philippines, we’ve noticed some pain points. So we’d liked to cover three of the major problematic areas in health care,” SureServ Chief Executive Officer and Founder Johnny Bondoc said during their exclusive media kickoff event held recently in Quezon City.
In relation to clinic services, he cited that only around 6 percent of Filipinos are covered by health maintenance organization (HMO) insurance. For the rest of those not covered by HMOs, they think that health services and tests are luxuries they simply cannot afford.
“So this has led to the mindset that even if a doctor has prescribed a test, our kababayans will not undergo the test even if the test will detect some of the bad health conditions they suffer from. That’s because they do not have the means to pay for it,” he said.
Prescription medicines
ANOTHER challenge that SureServ seeks to address is the inability of 99 percent of the population to purchase the complete set of prescription medicines due to budget unavailability, based on a report by the Department of Health in September 2019.
Eventually, this has led to the “tingi” purchase of medicines, where those who have limited budget or no means at all are forced to buy only two to three days’ worth of antibiotics, rather than a supply good for seven to 14 days as the doctors prescribed.
“This results in even bigger, more serious problems. One of which is the emergence of antibiotics resistant pathogens, bacteria that are resistant to antibiotics,” Bondoc explained.
The low completion rate of the vaccination program for the newborns is also what the company wants to solve. A 2017 study done by GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) shows that out of two million babies given birth annually, only five percent or about 107,000 are able to get all the 24 vaccine shots prescribed or recommended by the Philippine Pediatric Society, Inc.
“Thankfully, they have the LGUs [local government units] to provide support to give the five major vaccine shots. But still the gap exists even among the working-class who are supposed to be comfortable and capable of providing all these vaccines,” he said.
“But if the working-class accounts for 50 percent of our population, there stands to reason that around 50 percent of babies should be able to get all the vaccine shots prescribed. But sadly that’s not the case [per the GSK research],” he added.
Turning the other side of the picture, SureServ also observed that the financial services sector is not exactly in the best state as well since 40 percent of the population have no physical access to banks, 75 percent without bank accounts outside of their payroll, and 90 percent to 95 percent sans credit card.
In a 2019 financial service study sponsored by Union Bank together with Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, 54 percent of Filipinos’ borrowing are still being done through informal channels and lenders, families, friends, and the so-called 5-6 to make both ends meet and survive. Forty-eight percent of them are saying that it’s just too difficult to apply for a loan through formal channels, with 60 percent agree that the documentary requirements are the most difficult to comply with.
“So with not much choice, we have a scenario where oppressive interest rates further oppress the oppressed, and the oppressive interest rates oppress them even more,” Bondoc pointed out. “Putting these two realities side-by-side—the health-care situation on one hand, and the financial services sector on the other hand—we have a scenario where the Filipino working-class is not able to fully avail of all the health-care services that they need and to fulfill all the healthcare needs. Sure, they’re hard working, they’re very deserving, but it’s just beyond their reach.”
Mobile microfinance solution for health care
SINCE its conception in 2019 up to its proven application when the pandemic hit in 2020, SureServ has been finally introduced as a revolutionary microfinance mobile app for the health care.
“I believe we’ve come up with something special—one that’s potentially a game-changing solution to the health-care and financial service issues confronting our kababayans today,” he said.
This app initially focuses on corporate accounts or the employees coming from manpower agencies, manufacturing companies, and business process outsourcing firms who are mostly exposed to various health risks. They can use the health-care credit line that starts from P3,000 up to P8,000 to cover vaccines and doctors’ fees, clinic and hospital services, and pharmacy or drugstore purchases. Every 15th day, the members are required to pay at least P300 through salary deduction. The credit is revolving, such that every amount paid is added to the available balance. A 2.5-percent interest rate is applied every cutoff.
“We want to help them the most to have a fighting chance to get their health-care needs and comfort. For purposes of progressing gradually and taking all of we can handle, then at this point, we really want to focus on corporate accounts—the employees—those who have the capacity to repay obligations,” he said while reiterating their willingness to also cater it to the open market to accommodate workers from other industries. “But by no means is it exclusive. We welcome any and all of the corporate accounts who desire to endorse their employees to become SureServ members.”
Accredited partners
CURRENTLY, SureServ has 100 accredited doctors, four clinic- and diagnostic laboratory-partners, one hospital-partner, and four online and brick-and-mortar pharmacy-partners. The company now has 47 service contracts with corporate merchants, covering 28,000 employees.
Seeing a lot of opportunities in the market, Bondoc told the BusinessMirror in a sideline interview that they are still looking at growth areas in terms of their merchant-partners and members. By end of this year, he said that they are aiming to have 500 to 1,000 accredited doctors and 30,000 active members.
“Of course, it can be 50,000 or 100,000 because our long-term goal is to have a million users in five years. But if we can bring it earlier why not?” he stressed. “We’ve certainly taken steps. At least, it’s not just a possibility anymore. It’s not ‘what if,’ or in the area of wondering. It’s already operational. It’s a reality. It’s actually an ongoing app that’s already serviceable.”