PhilHealth urged to shoulder Covid-19 testing costs for MSMEs

“PhilHealth must get their act together fast. Kailangang maging bahagi ng solusyon ang PhilHealth upang mapabagal natin ang pagkalat ng virus (PhilHealth should be part of the solution to slow the spread of the virus),” she added. (File Photo: Philippine Health Insurance Corporation/Facebook)

MANILA – A party-list lawmaker on Wednesday said the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth) should shoulder the costs for the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) tests for employees of micro, small, and medium enterprises.

Bagong Henerasyon Rep. Bernadette Herrera said the Department of Health should issue guidance to MSMEs on where they can have their employees undergo reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) testing for free with costs fully shouldered by PhilHealth.

“MSMEs cannot afford to shoulder the cost of Covid-19 testing because they simply have no funds. The PhilHealth must learn their lessons from all the congressional hearings. We do not want any corruption allegation in the implementation of this,” Herrera said.

“PhilHealth must get their act together fast. Kailangang maging bahagi ng solusyon ang PhilHealth upang mapabagal natin ang pagkalat ng virus (PhilHealth should be part of the solution to slow the spread of the virus),” she added.

For consumer protection, Herrera said the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) and the DOH should already be strictly regulating the prices of Covid-19 tests and traditional medicines like Lian-Hua Qing-Wen.

“Yung mga bagong lumalabas kasi na gamot nag-iiba-iba na naman ang presyo. Yung PCR test kits umaabot sa PHP7,000 to PHP10,000 bawat isa. Mahal na nga, matagal pa ang resulta (The newly-released medicines have varying prices. The PCR test kits cost around PHP7,000 to PHP10,000 each. These are expensive, and also slow to achieve results),” she said.

She said the DOH and Food and Drug Administration should review all the Covid-19 tests they have approved, considering the latest data on their proven effectiveness and ineffectiveness.

She said conditional approval status may be given for the poorly performing test kits.