Senior citizen shocked when PhilHealth told him he'd died

A senior citizen was shocked to learn that his member data record at the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth) listed him as “deceased.”

According to Vonne Aquino’s “24 Oras” report on Wednesday, Efren Aguilar’s date of death was listed as September 15, 2016 even though he is still alive and well.

“Actually, nanlamig ako no’ng sinabing ‘Patay na kayo e'. Wala akong nasabing words siguro no’ng mga first few minutes noong pagkabigay sa 'kin no’ng papel,” Aguilar said.

“Sabi ko, ‘Bakit nagka gano’n?’ Tinatanong ko sarili ko, ‘Ilan kaya kami na ginanito? Hindi lang siguro ako nag-iisa, marami kami nito,’” he added.

He also said that the last time he availed of his PhilHealth benefits was in 2012.

Last August 21, he also wrote down his PhilHealth number on a hospital’s information sheet after accompanying their house helper who needed laboratory tests.

“Balak ko talaga magpunta ng PhilHealth para ayusin ‘to kasi anytime, lalo na at my age, I’ll be needing my PhilHealth, ‘di ba?” he said.

The state insurer has since apologized for the error.

“Una, humihingi kami ng paumanhin kay Mr. Aguilar sa naging pagkakamali sa kaniyang record,” PhilHealth corporate communication senior manager Rey Balena said.

“Ang nangyari po ay maaaring may nagkaroon ng pagkakamali sa tagging ng data… Maaari rin na encoding error ‘yan. Ano’t anuman, mayroon tayong paraan at solusyon para maitama ‘yan,” he assured.

He also urged other PhilHealth members to report similar errors to the agency.

PhilHealth has come under fire over the past weeks over corruption allegations that included some 20,000 fraudulent claims.  -Julia Mari Ornedo/NB, GMA News