THE Commission on Filipino Overseas (CFO) on Thursday vowed to work with groups based in the United States to allow the Filipino American retirees to avail of the US Medicare and Medicaid when they choose to permanently settle in the Philippines.

In the current set-up, Fil-Am retirees could only avail of their US Medicare benefits up to six months of stay in the country, said CFO Chairman Dante Ang II during a press briefing held in Quezon City.

The CFO has partnered with concerned US-based private groups led by Eric Lachica, a Fil-Am whose hometown is Dumaguete and who founded the lobby group called USMedicarePH, to campaign actively for medicare portability.

Ang met with officials from concerned government agencies including the Department of Foreign Affairs and PhilHealth led by Health Secretary Teodoro Herbosa and Lachica to discuss the issue.

"We had a very productive meeting this morning identifying several opportunities and we have Secretary Herbosa. I didn't know [he] has also been working on this for 14 years, and he has very interesting suggestions for us to pursue, to make it a reality," Ang said.

"But the bottom line, let me just underscore why the CFO is doing this, it is because we want Filipinos overseas to consider returning home to the Philippines, and at the CFO, we want to reverse the narrative from brain-drain to brain-gain," he added.

Lachica said with more support, he was confident that their goal to make the Medicare portability would soon be realized.

Lachica, who plans to settle in the country in five years, said they have been meeting with American lawmakers who have expressed support as they sponsored a bill entitled H.R. 7442, or the Philippines Medicare Portability Act.

Ang said that if US Medicare portability is allowed in the Philippines, "Filipino-Americans can receive treatment here, significantly lowering the costs of US Medicare claims and saving US taxpayers billions of dollars a year."