When we talk about financial planning, we usually think about savings, investments, retirement, or our children’s education.

But there is another risk that can affect almost every financial goal we have:

our health.

The Philippine Statistics Authority recently released its provisional data on the leading causes of death in the Philippines for January to February 2026.

Out of 56,074 registered deaths, ischaemic heart diseases remained the leading cause, accounting for 14,921 deaths or 26.6% of the total.

The PSA notes that these figures are provisional, cover deaths occurring from January to February 2026 based on data processed as of June 30, 2026, and may still differ from the final report.

Here are the Top 10 causes of death reported by PSA:

Rank	Cause of Death	Registered Deaths	Share
1	Ischaemic heart diseases	14,921	26.6%
2	Pneumonia	5,222	9.3%
3	Cerebrovascular diseases	4,420	7.9%
4	Neoplasms	4,293	7.7%
5	Diabetes mellitus	2,795	5.0%
6	Hypertensive diseases	2,715	4.8%
7	Other heart diseases	2,015	3.6%
8	Chronic lower respiratory diseases	1,942	3.5%
9	Other diseases of the respiratory system	1,775	3.2%
10	Other diseases of the genitourinary system	1,653	2.9%

What Can We Do About These Health Risks?

Not every disease is preventable, and prevention is never a guarantee. Genetics, age, environment, infections, existing medical conditions, and many other factors can affect a person’s health.

But there are practical habits that may help reduce the risk of several conditions on this list.

1. Take care of your heart and blood pressure

Heart disease, stroke and hypertensive diseases appear several times among the leading causes of death.

WHO identifies tobacco use, unhealthy diet, physical inactivity, harmful alcohol use, obesity, high blood pressure, high blood sugar and abnormal blood lipids among important cardiovascular risk factors. Practical preventive measures include not smoking, reducing salt, eating more fruits and vegetables, staying physically active and having risk factors detected and managed early.

Simple action: Know your blood pressure, blood sugar and cholesterol—not only your weight.

2. Reduce your risk of pneumonia and respiratory disease

Vaccination, proper hand hygiene, avoiding smoking and reducing exposure to indoor air pollution can help lower pneumonia risk.

For chronic respiratory diseases, avoiding tobacco smoke and unnecessary exposure to air pollution, dust and chemicals is also important. People already living with respiratory conditions should follow their treatment plans and have regular medical follow-ups.

3. Don’t ignore cancer prevention and screening

Neoplasms, which include cancers, ranked fourth in the PSA data.

WHO says cancer risk can be reduced through measures such as avoiding tobacco, maintaining a healthy weight, eating a healthy diet, exercising regularly, reducing alcohol consumption and receiving appropriate HPV and hepatitis B vaccination when recommended. Early detection can also improve outcomes for many cancers.

Simple action: Ask your doctor which screenings are appropriate for your age, sex, family history and personal risk factors.

4. Take diabetes seriously—even before symptoms appear

Type 2 diabetes can often be prevented or delayed through regular physical activity, a healthy diet, maintaining a healthy body weight and avoiding tobacco.

If you already have diabetes, proper management matters because it can affect the heart, kidneys, eyes, nerves and other parts of the body.

5. Protect your kidneys too

The PSA’s tenth category—other diseases of the genitourinary system—is a broad category rather than one specific disease, so there is no single prevention strategy for everything included in it.

For kidney health specifically, controlling conditions such as diabetes and high blood pressure, maintaining healthy habits and getting appropriate testing when you are at risk can help prevent or slow chronic kidney disease.

---

But There Is Another Risk: The Financial Cost of Getting Sick

This is where the PSA report becomes relevant not only to our health, but also to our financial planning.

A serious illness may create more than one expense.

There can be:

Hospital bills.
Emergency treatment, confinement, surgery, medicines, professional fees, diagnostic tests and rehabilitation may all become part of the cost.

Ongoing medical expenses.
Some illnesses require months or even years of medication, consultations, laboratory tests, therapy or monitoring.

Loss of income.
A person may temporarily—or permanently—be unable to work.

And for a breadwinner, the financial impact can extend beyond the patient.

The mortgage or rent still needs to be paid. Groceries still need to be bought. Children still need to go to school. Parents may still depend on financial support.

This is why health preparation and financial preparation should work together.

Think of Protection in Layers

There isn’t one financial product that solves every health-related risk.

Different tools have different jobs.

HMO can help with eligible consultations, diagnostics, outpatient services and hospitalization within the plan’s network, coverage and limits.

Medical insurance can provide another layer of protection against eligible hospitalization and medical expenses, depending on the specific policy’s benefits, limits, exclusions and conditions.

Life insurance addresses a different risk. If the insured person dies while covered under the policy, the death benefit can help the beneficiaries deal with lost income, debts, children’s needs and other family obligations.

And alongside these, having an emergency fund gives the household readily available cash for expenses that may not be covered.

The important question is not simply:

“Do I have insurance?”

A better question is:

“If a serious illness happened to me or someone in my family, which expenses are already covered—and which expenses would still come from our own pocket?”

That gap is what financial planning should help you understand.

Health Protection Is Also Financial Protection

The PSA numbers remind us that health risks are not abstract possibilities.

But the lesson should not be to live in fear.

It should be to prepare.

Take care of the things you can control: your daily habits, regular checkups, recommended screening, management of existing medical conditions and getting professional medical advice when something does not feel right.

Then look at the financial side.

Know what your HMO covers. Understand your medical insurance. Review your life insurance. Build your emergency fund.

Because while we cannot predict exactly what will happen to our health, we can make sure one medical event does not automatically become a financial crisis for the whole family.

A Simple Question to Start With

If you were hospitalized tomorrow, do you know:

What your HMO would pay?
What your medical insurance would cover?
How much cash you could access?
And how your family would continue financially if your income stopped?

If you’re unsure, that’s a good reason to review your current protection—not necessarily to immediately buy something, but first to understand what you already have and where the gaps may be.

You can explore more practical financial-planning resources at djvillalunaofficial.com.

This article is for general financial education only. Health prevention and screening recommendations should be discussed with an appropriate healthcare professional. Insurance and HMO benefits vary by provider, product, policy terms, limits and exclusions.

Sources

The mortality figures are from the Philippine Statistics Authority’s “2026 Causes of Death in the Philippines (Provisional as of 30 June 2026),” released August 30, 2026.