Philhealth benefits how to avail

A progressive lawmaker wants the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) to make an urgent review of its benefits packages following reports that these do not cover COVID-19 patients placed in tents outside hospitals already at full capacity. Gabriela Rep. Arlene Brosas issued the call on Wednesday after Bayan Muna Rep. Ferdinand Gaite said in a House hearing last week that these patients were being charged P1,000 per hour. “Letting patients suffer in tents is one thing, but charging them P1,000 per hour and saying that this is not part of the PhilHealth coverage is just plain evil,” Brosas said in a statement. She added that if President Duterte had only prioritized the building of COVID-19 hospitals over nonessential infrastructure projects, then those suffering from the respiratory disease would not have to suffer and die in tents. PhilHealth president and chief executive officer Dante Gierran earlier said that those admitted to hospital tents due to the lack of beds ... » Learn More about Review of PhilHealth benefits sought

SEN. Christopher Lawrence “Bong” Go is hopeful that the task force created by President Rodrigo Duterte to investigate alleged irregularities in the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) would also revive the ailing state insurer to enable it to fully implement the Universal Health Care (UHC) Law. The senator, who heads the Senate Committee on Health and Demography, enjoined all agencies of government to support the “cleansing” of PhilHealth following allegations of widespread corruption. “Kaya nga po task force ang binuo (This is the reason why a task force was organized). He earlier called on the Department of Finance and Department of Budget and Management to help PhilHealth, saying the non-implementation of the UHC Law is “unacceptable.” “Hindi ako papayag na hindi ma-fully implement po ito. In fact, ilang beses na po akong sumali sa pagpupulong ng mga economic managers ng Pangulo at ‘yan po ang aking ipinapakiusap na ma-fully implement po itong UHC (I will not ... » Learn More about Probe to revive PhilHealth – Go

SEN. Christopher Lawrence “Bong” Go on Tuesday issued an urgent appeal to the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) to scale up its response to the pandemic by expanding its coverage of medical costs, particularly for families facing financial strain. “As the primary health insurance provider of millions of Filipinos, it is important that PhilHealth adapts to the challenges the country is facing today,” said the chairman of the Senate health and demography committee. “For faster recovery, PhilHealth should be more proactive by anticipating the needs of Filipinos even before they avail of treatment and expand the coverage of its health insurance schemes accordingly,” he added. Go expressed concern that many poor and vulnerable Filipinos are struggling to gain access to quality healthcare due to the overburdened health system caused by the pandemic. “Gaya po ng parating sinasabi ko sa inyo, ipaglalaban ko na patuloy ma-implementa ang Universal Health Care Law at ... » Learn More about Expand coverage, Go asks PhilHealth

THE Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) vowed to pay in full the P4.3 billion it owed the Philippine Red Cross (PRC) for the swab tests it rendered to members of the state health insurer within the week. Sen. Richard Gordon, chairman of the PRC, has called on the state insurer to pay up its debt so that it can continue conducting low-cost reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction tests. Dante Gierran, PhilHealth president and chief executive officer, said reduced manpower and erroneous entries on claim forms were the reasons why it is taking time for private and public hospitals to receive their claims from PhilHealth. “There were some claims that had erroneous entries in them that can’t be processed electronically so what we did is to manually process the whole thing resulting in slow progress,” he explained. Jose Rene de Grano, Private Hospitals Association of the Philippines, Inc. president, said the state health insurer still owes them around P6 billion, ... » Learn More about PhilHealth to settle P4.3B debt to Red Cross

The Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth) announced that self-paying members can now pay their health insurance contributions using the recently launched PhilHealth Member Portal. Using the Portal’s payment management module, they can generate their Statement of Premium Account (SPA) that serves as their billing statement. Self-paying individuals may also select the number of months that they will pay for – from one month to a maximum of three years. After selecting the desired payment range, the module will automatically compute the total contributions due for payment based on their declared income and indicate the due date. After generating their SPA, the payor then proceeds with choosing the accredited collecting agent (ACA) which will process their payment. Currently, PhilHealth has engaged IPAY-MYEG Philippines, Inc. as its payment partner. Other partners such as PayMaya will soon be added. The payor will then be directed to the ACA’s domain to make the ... » Learn More about PhilHealth offers online payment window

The Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth) is seriously considering the release of a second tranche of its Interim Reimbursement Mechanism (IRM) or emergency cash advance to help hospitals with needed liquidity for better response to the increasing number Covid-19 patients. The agency said it will review each hospital’s utilization of the first IRM tranche and will ask them to start liquidating the said funds to be eligible for the second tranche. The second wave of IRM funds — equivalent to three months’ worth of their claims — will be made available to Covid-19 hospitals specifically those in high concentration areas. Reports say that the National Capital Region (NCR), Regions 3, 4 and 7 have reached either full capacity or in critical levels. However, overall nationwide admissions was only a little over 50 percent, mostly in Level 3 or apex referral hospitals. To date, PhilHealth already released a total of P14.7 billion to 681 hospitals nationwide under ... » Learn More about PhilHealth mulls second IRM release for Covid-19 hospitals

THE Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth) is seriously considering the release of a second tranche of its Interim Reimbursement Mechanism (IRM) or emergency cash advance to help hospitals with needed liquidity in order that they can respond better to the increasing Covid-19 patients. The agency said it will review each hospital’s utilization of the first IRM tranche and will ask them to start liquidating the said funds to be eligible for the second tranche. The second wave of IRM funds will be made available to Covid-19 hospitals specifically those in high concentration areas such as the National Capital Region, Regions III, IV and VII where bed capacity either reached full capacity or in critical levels as coronavirus infections increase due to the easing of quarantine policies. However, overall nationwide total covid 19 admissions was only a little over 50 percent with most admissions in Level 3 or apex referral hospitals. For the second wave of IRM, the state ... » Learn More about PhilHealth mulls releasing 2nd wave of financial support to Covid-19 hospitals

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) will look at possible benefits that can be granted to COVID-19 patients who are staying in hospital emergency rooms (ER) while awaiting admission, Health Undersecretary and treatment czar Leopoldo Vega said on Wednesday. PhilHealth, Vega said, is currently not covering charges made by hospitals for those who are waiting in the ER. Patients who are PhilHealth members need to be formally admitted to be able to claim benefits. “Nakipag-usap na kami sa PhilHealth through Atty. Gierran at nagsabi na siya na idi-discuss nila kung ano ang benefits, especially sa mga COVID-19 patients natin na nasa ER na hindi maka-collect from PhilHealth,” he said in a Laging Handa public briefing. (We have talked with PhilHealth chief Atty. Dante Gierran and he said they will discuss the possible benefits  for COVID-19 patients in ERs who cannot collect from PhilHealth.) Bayan Muna party-list Rep. Ferdinand Gaite earlier ... » Learn More about PhilHealth to consider benefits for COVID-19 patients in ERs

MANILA, Philippines — The Senate Committee of the Whole has recommended the filing of charges against Health Secretary Francisco Duque III, recently resigned Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) chief Ricardo Morales, as well as several top-ranking officials, over the alleged misuse of funds under the state-run agency’s emergency cash advance measure. Senate President Vicente Sotto III, chair of the committee, reported out the panel’s findings during Tuesday’s plenary session following a series of hearings into fresh allegations of corruption within the agency. “Any reform in personnel and its organization cannot come from within its ranks when all had been tainted with suspicion, through active participation or inaction, in the conspiracy to bankrupt PhilHealth of its funds and resources,” Sotto said in his speech. One of the allegations of corruption raised during the Senate hearings involves the supposedly questionable release of funds under the corporation’s Interim ... » Learn More about Senate panel wants Duque, Morales, other execs sued over PhilHealth fund mess

NOT COVERED Even in the early months of the pandemic, many hospitals had to set up tents to accommodate COVID-19 patients awaiting space in their intensive care units. A recent House inquiry revealed that one hospital had been billing “P1,000 per hour’’ for the use of such tents—an expense not covered by PhilHealth. —INQUIRER FILE PHOTO MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth) should urgently review its benefit packages as it should clarify its coverage for patients in tents, a lawmaker said Wednesday. Gabriela Women’s Partylist Rep. Arlene Brosas said reports of patients being charged P1,000 per hour of waiting in tents is “a manifestation of the Duterte era’s dystopian nightmare.” “Letting patients suffer in tents is one thing, but charging them P1,000 [per hour] and saying that this is not part of the PhilHealth coverage is just plain evil,” Brosas said in a statement. “If only President (Rodrigo) Duterte prioritized building COVID-19 ... » Learn More about Review of PhilHealth packages urged to clarify coverage of patients in tents