News
3,000 Manila Residents Receive Health Insurance Coverage -
June 26, 2008
AT least 3,221 indigent families from six districts in the City of Manila today received their passports to health insurance coverage, courtesy of the local government unit and the National Government through the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth).
Leticia Portugal (3rd from left), PhilHealth Manager for NCR North hands over the PhilHealth ID card to one of the recipients from Tondo during the ceremonial ID distribution held at the Tondo Sports Complex on the occasion of Araw ng Maynila.
The distribution of the PhilHealth ID cards was held at the Tondo Sports Complex as part of the Araw ng Maynila celebrations. On hand to distribute the ID cards to the recipient families were PhilHealth officers Leticia P. Portugal, Manager for NCR North and Rochelle San Pedro, Manila Service Office Head. Joining them in the ID distribution proper were Col. Federico Gacutan, Chief of the Mayor's Complaints and Action Team and Director Roland Lim, representing Manila Mayor Alfredo S. Lim.
The City government earmarked P16 million for its "Tulong Pangkalusugan para sa Manileño Program." The amount includes the city's share of P600.00 in the annual premium of the enrolled families while the National Government also allotted a counterpart amount of P600.00 per family.
Nelia Casiño, a resident of Isla Puting Bato is presented the mock-up of the PhilHealth ID card which she received recently. Also in photo are (L-R): Col. Federico Gacutan, chief of the Mayor's Complaints and Action Team, Director Roland Lim representing Mayor Alfredo S. Lim, Rochelle San Pedro, PhilHealth Manila Service Office Head and Jay de la Fuente, OIC of the Manila Department of Social Welfare. Partly hidden is DM Portugal.
The beneficiaries of the program are urban poor families from Districts I to VI and includes disadvantaged women, persons with disabilities, volunteer workers, solor parents, tricycle and pedicab drivers, ambulant vendors, members of cooperatives, patients from health centers and local hospitals. Majority of these recipients are from barnagays Parola, Isla Puting Bato, Smokey Mountain and Sitio Damayan, all considered depressed barangays.
One of the senior recipients of the PhilHealth ID cards acknowledges receipt of the card during the mass distribution at the Tondo Sports Complex.
With the PhilHealth ID cards, the indigent families may now avail themselves of medical care benefits ranging from allowances for hospital room and board fees, drugs and medicines, x-ray and other laboratory procedures as well as allowances for the professional fees of attending physicians. These benefits may be availed of during confinement in PhilHealth-accredited hospitals nationwide. Apart from these inpatient benefits, the cards also entitle them to outpatient diagnostic benefits from designated accredited health centers in the city.
The crowd of Manila residents who trooped to the Tondo Sports Complex for the short ID distribution ceremonies