News
PhilHealth, CFC Medical Mission sign MOA for enrolment of beneficiaries - May 04, 2006
THE Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth) and the CFC Medical Mission Foundation, Inc. recently signed a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) for the enrolment of beneficiaries of the Foundation’s Gawad Kalusugan Program into the National Health Insurance Program (NHIP).
In signing ceremonies held at the PhilHealth Boardroom in Pasig City, Lorna O. Fajardo, Officer-in-charge of the Office of the PhilHealth President and CEO said that the partnership is “...another door being offered to PhilHealth to entice a number of people to be part of the NHIP.” She appreciated the CFC Medical Mission’s move of sponsoring and eventually convincing their other members to enrol with PhilHealth, adding that the livelihood programs being offered by the Foundation to its members will help ensure the continued coverage of these families.
The MOA calls for PhilHealth to provide the necessary technical support to the Foundation as it pursues additional coverage under the NHIP. PhilHealth will also conduct a series of information, education and communication initiatives to help increase awareness of health insurance among the Foundation’s members and its beneficiaries.
On the other hand, the Foundation will assist PhilHealth in the registration of its beneficiaries either directly or through the local government units (LGUs) where its beneficiaries are located. It will also make its available chapters nationwide as distribution centers for PhilHealth’s information materials, as well as enter into an agreement with LGUs for the formal implementation of the Sponsored Program. “The Foundation will also donate funds to finance local government subsidy either full or partial,” Fajardo said.
Dr. Jose Yamamoto, International Director of the Foundation said that it was PhilHealth’s thrust “...towards rationalizing the delivery of medical care benefits to the poorest of the poor” that prompted them to enter into a tie-up with the government corporation. “Since Gawad Kalinga is also coming from that perspective of delivering concrete services other than housing, we felt we needed to come into the partnership to meet our own goals of universal health insurance coverage which PhilHealth conveniently provides,” he said.
At present, the Gawad Kalinga Program is being implemented in about 650 communities, benefitting almost 17,000 families. While the Foundation is not too certain how many of these families already have PhilHealth coverage, Yamamoto assured Fajardo that “...at the very least, these GK beneficiaries must have PhilHealth coverage.”
“We intend to expand the coverage because our vision is to cover 7,000 communities....our goal is for all those communities to be healthy communities and I confidently think that PhilHealth coverage will help us attain the 7,000 healthy communities,” Yamamoto said.
Initially, the Foundation will work with either the LGU or the National Government for the coverage of some of its GK beneficiaries under the Sponsored Program. “We will try our best to mobilize financial resources and support for either the indigent patients or the individually paying patients,” he added.
Also present during the MOA signing ceremonies were Melinda
C. Mercado, PhilHealth’s Senior Vice President for Operations
and Dr. Ellen Solis, GKal Health Manager.