PhilHealth members, dependents enjoy 30% case rate hike

FILE: BUSINESS UNUSUAL. Philippine Health Insurance Corp. transactions go through the manual process, like in this branch in Mother Ignacia Avenue, Quezon City, on Tuesday (Sept. 26, 2023), four days after its system was attacked by the Medusa ransomware. The cyberhackers are reportedly demanding USD300,000 or about PHP17 million to decrypt the files, but the state health insurer said it won’t pay. (PNA photo by Joan Bondoc)

By John Rey Saavedra, Philippine News Agency

CEBU CITY – Members of the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) and their dependents can now enjoy an overall 30 percent increase in case rates under the Universal Health Care (UHC) law, an official said on Tuesday.

During the Kapihan sa Bagong Pilipinas forum here, Marjorie Cabrieto, vice president of PhilHealth-Central Visayas, said the Z Benefit package for breast cancer posted the highest increase from PHP100,000 to PHP1.

4 million or a 1,300 percent hike.

With the increase, dependents will have better healthcare services with enhanced critical benefit packages for different diseases, Cabrieto said.

The improved critical benefit packages cover pneumonia, acute stroke, hemodialysis, orthopedic implants, breast cancer, neonatal sepsis, and Konsulta outpatient services expansion, among others.

She said that high-risk pneumonia coverage before was at PHP32,000 but has increased to PHP90,100; acute ischemic stroke from PHP28,000 to PHP76,000; and acute hemorrhagic stroke from PHP38,000 to PHP80,000.

Dialysis patients before could only avail of 144 sessions, now increased to 156 sessions, she added.

Meanwhile, Cabrieto said the UHC integration site system is now being experienced in the cities of Lapu-Lapu and Mandaue.

“DOH (Department of Health) is preparing these LGUs (local government units) to be an IS (integration site) so that soon if all things, all documents will be consolidated and then (they will be) okay. The financial integration will come in. PhilHealth will be financing the LGU healthcare provider with the money,” she said.

Integration sites, she said, can provide more services.

“They can improve their services. They can buy more medicine, more equipment. The infrastructure projects, hire more medical workers. That is the essence of the Universal Health Integration Site,” she added.