PhilHealth president Emmanuel Ledesma said the state insurer has “abundant funds” and will continue to use these funds to increase benefit packages for Filipinos.
“We are aggressively using that money properly which is to increase the benefit packages, which we are doing, and continuing to do,” Ledesma said.
Ledesma stated that the agency is focused on identifying and expanding coverage to the ten most burdensome diseases in the Philippines such as pneumonia, severe dengue, stroke, chronic kidney disease, and various cancers.
The agency reported that currently, 60% of these conditions are now covered by the expanded healthcare financial benefits.
Ledesma said that PhilHealth is aiming to cover 80% of the said top ten burdensome diseases either by November or the end of the year.
By 2025, PhilHealth also said will also roll out enhanced coverage for lung, liver, ovary and prostate cancer patients, particularly those undergoing chemotherapy.
PhilHealth also reiterated the lifting of the Single Period of Confinement (SPC) rule which started last October 1, ensuring that members requiring extended care were not forced to shoulder additional expenses.
It added that benefits for hemodialysis will again increase by 59%, which amounts nearly to P1 million in coverage annually for affected members.
PhilHealth earlier launched its therapeutic care package for Severe Acute Malnutrition which was the first in the Asia Pacific region.
In addition to the expanded benefits, PhilHealth is also embracing digital technology to improve its service delivery, especially in remote areas. The agency partnered with the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT), the Department of Health (DOH), and the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) for the digitalization project.
