MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) has sufficient funds to pay up to P786,384 of the total hospital bills of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) patients amid the escalating number of cases.
In a television interview, PhilHealth president Ricardo Morales said their financial managers have calculated the funds and assured COVID-19 patients that assistance will be provided to them.
PhilHealth started implementing the case rate system last Wednesday, under which COVID patients with mild pneumonia will receive P43,997; P143,267 for moderate pneumonia; P333,519 for severe pneumonia; and P786,384 for critical pneumonia.
Morales said the new case rate system is for long-term implementation.
Shirley Domingo, PhilHealth executive vice president for corporate affairs, said they came up with appropriate case rates to ensure adequate financial assistance for COVID-19 patients.
She added that the PhilHealth Board decided to implement full subsidy early on in the epidemic because of the lack of “costing data” on COVID-19 cases from hospitals.
PhilHealth had earlier released an initial P30 billion to provide accredited healthcare centers with “the much-needed liquidity to adequately respond to the pandemic.”
Meanwhile, the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) announced yesterday the resumption in the processing of requests for financial assistance for medical services and treatment at their main office in Mandaluyong City and branch offices nationwide.
The processing of applications and requests for assistance under the Individual Medical Assistance Program (IMAP) was temporarily suspended after the declaration of the state of public health emergency throughout the Philippines.
Royina Garma, PCSO vice-chair and general manager, said this resumed yesterday and would cover the applications for medical assistance for confinement and for outpatient request for the availment of chemotherapy, dialysis, hemophilia and post transplant medicines.
The acceptance and processing of requests will only be from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., taking into consideration the curfew hours imposed by local government units (LGUs) in the National Capital Region, Luzon and other parts of the country.
For Metro Manila, the requests will have to be submitted and processed at the PCSO Conservatory Building along Shaw Boulevard in Mandaluyong City. – With Rainier Allan Ronda