PhilHealth Speaks on President’s Promise To Reduce Contribution
PHILHEALTH – The Philippine Health Insurance Corp. is studying the possibility of lowering the monthly contribution of the members.
Millions of Filipinos rely to their membership to the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. as their safety net against hospitalizations and medical treatments. However, truth be told that due to the high inflation in the Philippines now and the recent increase in the monthly contribution, several members are struggling to keep their accounts updated.
PhilHealth offers several benefits for its members. These benefits include inpatient benefits, outpatient benefits, the Z benefits with special packages, and the SDG-related packages which include Malaria, Anti-Tuberculosis, and Animal Bite packages. Not only the members but as well as the PhilHealth beneficiaries are covered by the benefits.
The Philippine Health Insurance Corp. has set case rates with regards to the insurance that it can extend to eligible members in case of hospitalization or availing a medical treatment.
The case rate amount is deducted by the Health Care Institution or HCI from the member’s total bill in the case of inpatient benefits. It is inclusive of the professional fees of the attending physician prior to the discharge of the patient from the hospital.
PhilHealth has also set different case rates in outpatient cases. The outpatient cases covered by the state entity includes day surgeries, radiotherapy, hemodialysis, and outpatient blood transfusion. To qualify for the benefits of the health insurance entity, a member must have an updated account.
A PhilHealth member must regularly post contribution to the state entity based on the rate set. However, the higher contribution rate now has doubled the challenge on the part of several members of the health insurance entity. Member’s contribution is now at Php 500.00.
In a previous Senate hearing, PhilHealtht President and Chief-Executive-Officer (CEO) Emmanuel Ledesma promised that the state-entity will study the possibility of reducing the monthly contribution of the members.
Based on a report on ABS-CBN News, PhilHealth spokesperson Dr. Israel Pargas recently confirmed that the health insurance entity is currently studying the reduction of the members’ monthly contributions as promised by their President. He stressed that there must be an in-depth study including the impact of the proposal on the fund of the insurer.
According to Pargas, the proposal will be submitted to the board and Malacañang. In case the proposal is approved, the implementation will begin in the last quarter of 2024 or at the start of 2025. The spokesman assured that the benefits can still be upgraded even if the monthly contributions will be reduced.
More updates may be posted soon.