PhilHealth eyes full coverage of COVID-19 treatment for low-income families

The Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth) is considering covering the entire cost of treatment of COVID-19 patients belonging to the 18 million low-income families receiving emergency cash subsidies from the government.

During the virtual meeting of the House Defeat COVID-19 Committee on Thursday, PhilHealth president Ricardo Morales said they are already in talks with the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD).

"We’re looking right now at the 18 million indigents and we are coordinating with the DSWD so that those who are indigents and are afflicted with COVID-19 need not be covered by the case rate," he said, clarifying later on that he was referring to the households under the government's social amelioration program.

"So they will be fully covered, they will no longer have to apply for additional coverage," he added.

PhilHealth earlier announced that it would be shouldering the full cost of treatment of all COVID-19 cases only until April 14.

Starting April 15, the state health insurer said it would implement a new benefit package for COVID-19 patients depending on severity of illness.

Under the new benefit package, coverage for patients with mild pneumonia is at P43,997, P143,267 for those with moderate pneumonia, P333,519 for those with severe pneumonia, and P786,384 for those with critical pneumonia.

Morales said those who are not indigents still need to follow the new benefit package and apply with PhilHealth for additional coverage.

"We will have to do our due diligence because our experience in this case, before April 15, there were families who could afford to pay a portion of the medical cost and they did not have to pay because we were still using that regime. That’s what we’re looking at ngayon," he said.

As of Thursday, there are a total of 5,660 cases of COVID-19 reported in the Philippines, with 362 deaths and 435 recoveries. — Erwin Colcol/BM, GMA News