Elderly urged to register with PhilHealth

CEBU, Philippines —  Seniors who no longer have an existing membership with the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth) are reminded to register to be able to avail of privileges, while retirees are expected to update their records.

PhilHealth reminded seniors or Filipinos 60 years old and above that they are mandatorily covered under the National Health Insurance Program pursuant to Republic Act (RA) 10645, and as reiterated under RA 11223 or the Universal Health Care Law of 2019.

Senior citizens’ annual premium contributions shall be borne by the national government from the proceeds of RA No. 10351 (Sin Tax Law), provided that they are not currently covered by any existing (membership) category of PhilHealth.

Aside from that, to be able to avail of such, a senior citizen must not have a regular source of income to be granted this privilege under the law.

PhilHealth President and CEO Atty. Dante A. Gierran invited senior citizens to ensure that they are duly registered or have updated records with PhilHealth.

“We have partnered with the Office for Senior Citizens Affairs (OSCA) in the local government units so that elderly Filipinos can be registered with PhilHealth conveniently,” said Gierran.

Qualified senior citizens according to Gierran only need to submit two duly accomplished PhilHealth Member Registration Form (PMRF) to the OSCA where they reside and await notification if their Member Data Record is already sent by PhilHealth.

Senior citizens who opt to register at any PhilHealth Local Health Insurance Office (LHIO) need to submit a copy of their Senior Citizens’ ID or any proof of age together with a 1x1 photo taken within the last six months, in addition to their filled out PMRF.

For Central Visayas, senior citizens may email their registration or data amendment transactions to the nearest PhilHealth LHIO. Email addresses of the LHIOs may be found in the directory of offices on the PhilHealth website www.philhealth.gov.ph.

On the other hand, retirees or those who have reached their compulsory age of retirement and have contributed to PhilHealth for at least 10 years or 120 months, and no longer have any source of income are also reminded to update their records under Lifetime membership.

As of June 2021, Philhealth noted some 8.4 million senior citizen members and 1.3 million Lifetime members plus 3.3 million qualified dependents.

From January to June 2021, PhilHealth has paid a total of P9.408 billion in benefits representing some 988,000 claims filed by elderly members nationwide.

Top medical conditions paid by PhilHealth were community-acquired pneumonia, hypertension, cerebral infarction or stroke, urinary tract infection, and congestive heart failure. — KQD (FREEMAN)