CH extends contract with Philhealth

THE Cebu City Government is shelling out P44 million as it extended the health service package of some 37,000 indigent families in the city for two more years.

Yesterday, Mayor Michael Rama together with the representatives from the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (Philhealth) signed a memorandum of agreement (MOA) for the extension of the City’s health care program.

Last year, the City spent some P18 million for the enrollment of the indigents to Philhealth. The City’s contract with Philhealth was supposed to have ended last Dec. 31, 2011.

The City Government, however, decided to extend the program so that the city’s indigents will still have access to a health package until Dec. 31 next year.

This program is also in lined with the National Health Insurance Act of 1995, which seeks to provide all citizens, particularly the poor and the underprivileged, with the mechanism to gain access to health services.

Under the Philhealth program, the City will be using the P44 million, or P22 million per year, to pay the annual dues of the beneficiaries.

Counterpart

Once a resident is enrolled in Philhealth, the City has to pay P600 annually or P1,200 for the two-year extended coverage of each family, with the National Government also giving P600 as their counterpart.

Based on the City’s guidelines, families who can avail of the program must be those whose joint monthly income is only P5,000 per month.

Families who are under the National Government’s Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4PS) are given priority.

The City’s Philhealth program is initiated by Rama since the start of his administration so as to save on cost on the giving of hospitalization and medicine program to the constituents.

Under the City Hospitalization and Medicine Program (Champ), the City spends P100 million each year to cover the health needs of the city’s indigents.