Philhealth exec: No politicking in distribution of health cards

The distribution of PhilHealth cards is not politicking, according to PhilHealth assistant vice president William Chavez.

Chavez, who was in Aloguinsan town yesterday for the agency's tie-up with Globe Telecoms on the distribution of health cards there, said the agency has been distributing PhilHealth cards annually, "and not only during elections."

He, however, noted that since the distribution was conducted recently, this could have been misconstrued as politicking.

"But we are not concerned about that, and won't be affected by such as we distribute cards election or no election to indigent families," Chavez stressed.

However, Chavez admitted that politicians indeed prefer to distribute PhilHealth cards for "added value" because health is the most important concern of the community.

An additional 300 indigents have been enrolled in the PhilHealth Para sa Masa Program by the local government of Aloguinsan in a tie-up with the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation and Globe Telecoms.

This brings the total number of indigent recipients to 3,300. Initially, the local government of Aloguinsan shouldered the enrollment to the program of the first 3,000 recipients.

Globe Telecom is just one of few private institutions with a high sense of corporate social responsibility that heeded to the call of PhilHealth to help the poor get access to quality health care.

According to Globe Telecom director Jerome Yntig, ensuring the health of their stakeholders, especially the poor families in their community, is one of their concerns.

As of December last year, around 1,243,566 members have been enrolled in PhilHealth; 841,880 are from Cebu.

Chavez also said that they are expecting an increase in membership with the help of the local government units through the PhilHealth Para sa Masa program.

To enroll their constituents to said program, LGUs will have to pass an ordinance on the matter wherein a portion of the payment will be shouldered by the local government unit depending on the status/state of the municipality.

Beneficiaries of said program have availed of in-patient and out-patient services. Sponsoring LGUs have also received their respective funds from PhilHealth to equip rural health units with adequate medical staff and medical supplies for the out-patient diagnostic services to indigent members and their dependents.

The member will only have to show his/her valid PhilHealth ID to avail of the benefits in the hospital. The out-patient benefits consist of medical consultation, chest X-ray, complete blood count, urinalysis, fecalysis and sputum microscopy. The in-patient benefits, on the other hand, consist of subsidy for room and board and operating room as well as allowances for drugs and medicines, laboratories and doctor's professional fee including those of surgeon and anesthesiologist fees. There are also out-patient benefits which include minor surgical procedure, cataract extraction, chemotherapy, radiotherapy and hemodialysis. - Jasmin R. Uy