House OKs reso urging PhilHealth to cover psoriasis

The House of Representatives has adopted a resolution urging the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth) to include psoriasis in the list of diseases covered by its healthcare program.

House Resolution 1818, principally authored by Masbate Representative Scott Davies Lanete, aims to make treatment for psoriasis available in hopes that cases will decrease nationwide.

Psoriasis is characterized by skin cells that multiply 10 times faster than normal as underlying cells reach the skin’s surface and die. Their sheer volume causes raised, red plaques covered with white scales.

Meanwhile, psoriatic arthritis can be associated with psoriasis, as 30 percent of people suffering from psoriasis also have psoriatic arthritis.

Currently, diseases and ailments covered by PhilHealth only include psoriatic arthritis and not psoriasis, depriving two percent of the Filipinos afflicted with it from medical health insurance benefits.

A big percentage of those who are not able to avail such benefits come from the poor and marginalized sectors, the resolution said.

Furthermore, the resolution further stated the necessity to include cases of psoriasis among those covered by the PhilHealth medical health insurance program instead of more specific illness of psoriasis arthritis so that access of people to quality healthcare, especially the less privileged, can be widened. —Erwin Colcol/KBK, GMA News