PhilHealth disburses nearly P1 billion for in-patient care

MANILA, Philippines — Only a few have filed hospital claims from the Philippine Health Insurance Corp., which reported having disbursed P948.721 million to cover the cost of in-patient care services for 3,615 individuals who contracted coronavirus disease 2019.

PhilHealth has an allocation of P11 billion for 37,365 target beneficiaries. So far, 1,427 health workers and 2,188 other beneficiaries have filed hospital claims.

This was contained in President Duterte’s second report to Congress on the government’s action in relation to the implementation of Bayanihan to Recover as One Act.

The claimants represented only a small fraction of the 388,137 COVID positive cases recorded as of Nov. 4. There were 349,091 recoveries and 7,367 fatalities.

In the President’s 18-page report submitted Tuesday, P11.94 billion has been set aside from fiscal year 2020 Corporate Operating Budget to cover the 37,365 target beneficiaries.

Of the target beneficiaries, 14,996 are health workers and 22,369 “non-health workers.”

In the same report, the PhilHealth said it has updated its existing pneumonia package and developed a benefit package to cover the cost of inpatient care for probable and confirmed COVID-19 cases.

PhilHealth is extending full hospitalization coverage for health workers admitted to accredited hospitals, “in recognition of the risk they are exposed to on a day-to-day basis to help treat COVID-19 cases,” the report read.

PhilHealth also released an updated testing package that covers the cost of availing of swab tests. As of Oct. 30, the agency received 30,378 claims totaling to P169.5 million.

The state insurer said it has paid P1.616 billion for 433,263 claims from the Philippine Red Cross.

About P1.55 billion has been allocated to cover the cost of health services provided to patients in public or private facilities used as temporary community isolation units.

The report also said the government has started processing the claims for separate benefits for 449 health workers, who experienced mild or moderate symptoms of COVID-19 and are entitled to get P15,000 financial assistance each under Bayanihan 2 Act.

The Department of Health and the Department of Budget and Management are preparing the checks for payment of the benefits for public and private health workers.

There were no details in the President’s report, however, on the amounts given to beneficiaries of health professionals who succumbed to the disease while on duty. The law provides compensation of P1 million to health professionals who died of COVID-19 while on duty while those who suffered severe or critical cases of COVID-19 may claim P100,000 in benefits.

The DOH has also reported that close to P1.7-billion funds for health resources for health (HRH) approved by the DBM have been “sub-allotted/transferred” to health facilities. This covers COVID-19 referral hospitals, DOH-designated diagnostic facilities and DOH hospitals.

The DOH is continuously hiring additional HRH, with 9,821 of the approved 11,951 slots for emergency hiring already filled up.

There are a total of 21,729 dedicated beds for COVID-19 in various hospitals nationwide, with 40.88 percent bed occupancy rate. There are now 10,996 temporary treatment management facilities for COVID-19.

The Department of the Interior and Local Government reported that an additional 41,961 have been hired for contact tracing nationwide.