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Saturday, March 11, 2006
RP needs better medical insurance to lure retirees
IF the Philippines wants to capture the American market of retirees, it must do some “realigning” of its standard of medical practice and health insurance system, an official of the Cebu Investments Promotion Center (CIPC) said.
“The Americans should be assured that their insurance companies and policies can be accepted by Philippine doctors and hospitals so that they will come here,” CIPC director Joel Mari Yu said.
Yu attended the forum on the summary of the White House Conference on Aging in December last year and the International Retirement and Healthcare Zones program of Healthcare Coalition Institute organized by the European Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
“In the US, more than 90 percent of hospital bills are covered by their insurance systems while in the Philippines, maybe only five percent are covered,” he said.
Expectations
US-based doctor Bobby Jimenez, one of the forum’s participants, said people from first world countries expect to survive six to nine heart attacks and expect to live through a few strokes, he said. To ensure that, a retirement institution should have a stabilization system, he added.
He also noted that there is no accredited hospital in the country where American retirees can use their medical benefits.
Cebu Doctors Group administrator Oscar Tuason admitted that they are “beset” with problems in dealing with American and European health insurance companies.
“(Being) a third world country, they are still questioning our abilities to provide health care for their citizens,” he said.
The basic problem is US-based health insurance providers will not readily pay for the services that we give them, he said.
“But there is a light at the end of the tunnel. I was in direct contact with a health provider in the US. They’re willing to make available to retired Americans (living here) the (medical) benefits and (assure us of) prompt payment,” he said. (ALC)
For Bisaya stories from Cebu. Click here. (March 11, 2006 issue)
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