News
WV Governors, City LCEs Commit to Universal Coverage -
August 17, 2010
Iloilo City. The Regional Office of the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth) based in this city remains optimistic in its continued pursuit of universal coverage, with the commitment expressed recently by the governors of the Western Visayan provinces.
The commitments of the local government units were conveyed to PhilHealth Regional Office (PhRO) VI Team headed by Regional Vice President Marilyn C. Geduspan during their recent visits to newly elected governors Exequiel Javier of Antique; Victor Tanco of Capiz; Arthur Defensor, Sr. of Iloilo; and Alfredo J. Maranon, Jr. of Negros Occidental. They also visited re-elected governor Carlito Marquez of Aklan and met with Mayors Alan Celino of Roxas City; Bing Leonardia of Bacolod City; and Jose J. Montelibano of Silay City. The planned meeting with Guimaras re-elected governor, Felipe Hilan Nava and with newly-elected Iloilo City Mayor Jed Patrick Mabilog were rescheduled.
As of June 2010, PhRO VI posted a total of 1,565,088 registered members, all from the paying (employed, self-employed and OFWs) and subsidized sectors (sponsored and lifetime members). Currently, it has a 101 percent coverage of around 7.5 million population including dependents, based on the targeted 2010 projected population of 7,646,954 in Western Visayas.
Under the Sponsored Program, a total of 695,313 indigents are enrolled, with 68, 290 coming from Aklan; 55,371 from Antique; 86,191 from Capiz ; 28,074 from Guimaras; 172,043 from Iloilo ; and 205,424 from Negros Occidental.
PhRO VI has also paid P1,653,755,595.68 benefits in 2009.
During the visits, Team PhilHealth presented the utilization data featuring the enrolment status vis-a-vis the availment of benefits, particularly those of the Sponsored Program members confined in government hospitals. PhilHealth emphasized the huge personal refund to members apart from the PhilHealth benefits already deducted prior to discharge of patient, an indication of the member-patient’s out-of-pocket expense made due to limited medicines and medical supplies in government hospitals.
Iloilo Governor Defensor assured the Team that he will ensure the efficiency of hospitals in terms of providing capable manpower and enough medical supplies prior to increasing the provincial sponsorship. He then ordered the review of the province's health program considering that Iloilo maintains 11 district hospitals.
In Antique, former solon and now Governor Javier vowed to add more enrollees to their Sponsored Program. Some 4,874 members were enrolled when he was in Congress, aside from the provincial and municipal sponsorships. The previous Sanggunian of Antique had authorized the regular annual appropriation from their budget for the province's premium counterpart.
Meanwhile, PhilHealth also turned over checks worth P1.3 million, representing the PhilHealth Capitation Fund to Antique; P2.04 million for Negros Occidental; P784,050 for Roxas City; and P2.017 million and P1.4 million for Silay City. (Lazaro Tabsing, PhRO VI)