‘No PhilHealth ID, no benefits’ policy scrapped

By Paolo Romero (The Philippine Star), Dec. 21, 2016

MANILA, Philippines – The Senate has included a provision in the proposed P3.35-trillion national budget canceling the need for patients seeking treatment in hospitals to present a Philippine Heath Insurance (PhilHealth) card as a condition for availing themselves of benefits from the state health insurer.

Senate Minority Leader Ralph Recto said the scrapping of the “No PhilHealth ID, No Benefits” policy is one of the many provisions crafted by the Senate to guarantee universal health coverage.

Recto sponsored the budget provision which states that “in the attainment of universal coverage, no Filipino, whether a PhilHealth member or not, shall be denied of PhilHealth benefits. PhilHealth identification card is not necessary in the availment of benefits.”

The provision forms part of the 2017 General Appropriations Bill that President Duterte is expected to sign before the end of the month.

The major PhilHealth-related initiative – pushed by Sen. Loren Legarda – appropriated P3 billion for paying the insurance premiums of the estimated “last eight million uninsured Filipinos.”

This backlog was discovered in the course of budget deliberations, Recto said. “Because the Senate did its job, the discrepancy was found,” he pointed out.

The P3-billion Senate infusion, sponsored by Legarda, “will close the last mile in health insurance,” he said.

“This is the culmination of a long work process through successive administrations. In 2001, at the start of GMA (Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo)’s term, the number of sponsored beneficiaries was just 200,000 urban poor families,” he said.

He said the number of the sponsored beneficiaries increased yearly that by 2010, the individuals covered, including self-paying, numbered 78 million.

Then president Benigno Aquino III added 20 million new enrollees, increased the paying members to about 45 million, retained the previous grantees and expanded the benefits, he said.

As a result of the Senate move, funding for PhilHealth social insurance program had been raised to P53.2 billion.

This will cover 15.4 million indigent families, 3.3 to 5.5 million senior citizens and 48,000 individuals under the government peace and reconciliation “PAMANA” program, and the last eight million uninsured individuals.

Recto said the inclusion of senior citizens “under the medicare umbrella” was made pursuant to Republic Act 10645, the 2014 Recto-authored law mandating automatic PhilHealth coverage for 60-year-olds and above.

Government’s subsidy to PhilHealth is booked separately from the Department of Health budget.