AN inter-agency meeting was recently held to discuss how the Point-of-Care (POC) enrolment mechanism for less privileged Filipinos who are admitted in health care facilities but who are not yet members of the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth), will transition into a more defined system of paying for social health insurance coverage.

The meeting was initiated by PhilHealth to set in place the guidelines for the implementation of the forthcoming coverage system called Point of Service (POS). Present during the meeting were officers from the Departments of Health (DOH), Budget and Management (DBM), Interior and Local Government (DILG), and Social Welfare and Development (DSWD).

The POS is envisioned to replace the POC program as the medium through which PhilHealth grants access to quality health care benefits to Filipinos incapable of paying for their health insurance premiums. It will facilitate benefit availment at point-of-service especially for those who do not have the means to pay for health services.

The General Appropriations Act of 2017 allocated the sum of P3 billion to set the POS into motion. Under the program, financially-incapable individuals will be granted PhilHealth coverage once they pass the DOH classification on indigence. In this scheme, PhilHealth shall bill the DBM, on a quarterly basis, the actual cost of the hospitalization chargeable against the appropriated amount. (END) (Jan Joseph C. Rico; photos by Jose Mari G. Sanvicente)

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