PhilHealth assures 4 Ps beneficiaries of health insurance premiums

TACLOBAN CITY – The central government is extending anew its helping hands to all beneficiaries of the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) by providing a health insurance to them regardless of whether they are listed in the National Household Targeting System – Poverty Reduction (NHTS-PR).

The Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth) announced that starting this week until 2013, conditional cash transfer beneficiaries are assured of health insurance premiums.

“This is in response to the clamor from local government units that some 4Ps members not listed in the National Household Targeting System for Poverty Reduction (NHTS-PR), are not registered with PhilHealth,” said Miramar Zabala, regional information officer of said agency.

Previously, 4Ps recipients are not covered with health insurance benefits if they are not identified in the Department of Social Welfare and Development’s (DSWD) NHTS-PR listings.

The central government subsidizes the premium for NHTS-PR-identified poor families employing the sponsored program (SP) approach.

“Upon presentation of 4Ps identification card, a beneficiary, either as sponsored program member or as a qualified dependent, will be entitled to all NHIP benefits with any health care provider accredited by PhilHealth,” she added.

To ensure that SP members under the NHTS for poverty reduction of the DSWD are able to avail themselves of health insurance benefits, accredited institutional health care providers (IHCP) were told to verify the membership and eligibility status of the members.

This year, the national government has set aside PI2.02 billion as subsidy for health insurance premium of indigent families enrolled in the NHTS-PR channeled through the Department of Health.

In this scheme, the state-run corporation assured that that processing of hospital’s reimbursement will be completed within the 60 days processing period prescribed under existing rules.

This year, the national government covers a total of 240,909 household beneficiaries out of the 335,208 families identified in the NHTS. (SARWELLl Q. MENIANO)

Short URL: http://leytesamardaily.net/?p=29464

Posted by lsde on Jun 23 2012. Filed under Second Story. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.