Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, April 15) — The government will continue to cover the hospital bills incurred by patients who tested positive for COVID-19. But the state-owned agency has imposed limits on bearing the cost of hospital expenses.
This was announced by Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth) Vice President for Corporate Affairs Dr. Shirley Domingo during a Health department virtual press briefing on Wednesday.
Last month, PhilHealth said it would shoulder the full cost of treatment of COVID-19 cases from February 1 until April 14, 2020 in accordance with Advisory No. 2020-022.
This time, however, PhilHealth came out with the case rates from costing data they got from hospitals.
“Tuloy-tuloy po ang bayad o tulong ng PhilHealth sa mga naapektuhan ng COVID kung kailangan nila maospital kasi ‘yung iba akala nila after April 14, wala na kami itutulong sa kanila,” said Domingo. “Tuloy-tuloy po ‘yon.”
[Translation: Help from PhilHealth will continue for those affected by COVID-19 if they need to be hospitalized because others think that after April 14, we will no longer aid them. Help will continue.]
PhilHealth’s newly released case rates are based on the severity of the patient’s pneumonia.
– For patients with mild pneumonia, PhilHealth will pay P43,997 off the total cost.
– For patients with moderate pneumonia, PhilHealth will pay P143,267 off the total cost.
– For patients with severe pneumonia, PhilHealth will pay P333,519 off the total cost.
– For patients with critical pneumonia, PhilHealth will pay P786,384 off the total cost.
The case rates are effective April 15, Wednesday in levels one to three hospitals.
According to Domingo, all Filipino citizens, even those who are not members of PhilHealth, are covered by the case rates.
“Universal Healthcare na po tayo ngayon,” Domingo pointed out. “Lahat ng Pilipino, miyembro na po kayo. Part ng Universal Healthcare Law sinasabi na immediate eligibility, lalo na po ngayon na emergency, nasa pandemic tayo. Kung non-member kayo, pwede kayo mag-avail.”
[Translation: We have universal healthcare. All Filipinos are now members. Part of the Universal Healthcare Law mentions immediate eligibility, especially now there is an emergency, we are in a pandemic. If you are a non-member, you can avail.]
PhilHealth also urged hospitals to not ask for advanced payments from any suspected COVID-19 patient.
