News
141 Laguna Families Receive Health Insurance - June 25, 2008
ONE hundred forty one (141) indigent families from various towns in Laguna province recently received their health insurance cards from President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and Lorna O. Fajardo, Acting President and CEO of the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth).
"The recipients of the PhilHealth ID cards are new members sponsored by Laguna Governor Teresita 'Ningning' Lazaro," Fajardo said. Representatives of the enrolled families came from the municipalities of Bay, Biñan, Cabuyao, Calauan, Cavinti, Kalayaan, Liliw, Los Baños, Luisiana, Lumban, Magdalena, Majayjay, Nagcarlan, Pila, Sta. Cruz, Sta. Maria and Victoria and the cities of Calamba and San Pablo.
President Arroyo hands over the ID cards to one of the recipients from Laguna
The ID cards were distributed after Arroyo signed into law the Universally Accessible Cheaper and Quality Medicines Act of 2008 at the Laguna Provincial Hospital in Sta. Cruz, Laguna. Arroyo said that the new law, which has spanned at least three Congresses, "completes the legislative reforms" of her administration.
Lorna O. Fajardo (right), Acting PhilHealth President and CEO watches as Ed Ardiente of PhilHealth's Regional Office IV-A calls out the names of the recipients
Under the Sponsored Program, ID cardholders may avail themselves of medical care benefits such as allowances for hospital room and board fees from P200.00 to P1,035.00 per day, up to 45 days in a year; allowances for drugs and medicines ranging from P1,500.00 to as much as P35,655 per single period of confinement; and allowances for x-ray and other laboratory procedures from P350.00 to P29,430.00. "These families may also avail themselves of allowances for the use of operating room complex in PhilHealth-accredited hospitals as well as professional fees of PhilHealth- accredited attending physicians," Fajardo emphasized.
To date, at least 2.7 million families have been enrolled under the Sponsored Program, benefiting around 14 million members nationwide.
NBN-4's Veronica Baluyot (left) interviews Aileen Buban, one of the recipients of the PhilHealth ID card, about her expectations from the health insurance coverage
The occasion coincided with the inauguration of the newly-renovated Laguna Chest Center, a two-storey facility which serves as a demonstration area for tuberculosis patients from the grassroots. It was first built in the 1950's and it took five decades to convert it into a state-of-the-art facility for the province. (END)