Lawmaker eyes dental services under PhilHealth

A PARTY-LIST lawmaker eyes further expansion of the state’s health insurance program to include dental health services.

Anakalusugan Rep. Ray Reyes hinted at a new law amending the Universal Health Care (UHC) Act to mandate the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) to include dental health in its package of services.

Reyes, vice chairman of the House Committee on health, stressed the need to bring dental healthcare services closer to people in far-flung areas.

“If there is any takeaway from our dental missions, it is that there is a need for PhilHealth and local government units (LGUs) to focus on the expansion of their regular services and seriously move towards the coverage of the dental needs of our constituents,” Reyes in reference his group’s dental missions in five towns in Antique recently.

Reyes said he realized during the event many Filipinos especially those in the countryside could not access dental services due to prohibitive costs.

He added that dental problems should not be taken for granted as these could have a serious impact on health.

“Dental complaints have serious ramifications on productivity. It cannot be ignored, set aside for later or swept under the rug. If we are to seriously move towards economic recovery and rural development, these must be attended to,” Reyes said.

“We go back to our core advocacy to make use of congressional downtime to bring free health service missions to rural areas where these remain wanting,” he added.

Reyes said more than 500 residents from the towns of Valderrama, Patnongon, San Remegio, Sibalom, and Anini-y availed themselves of dental services, including consultation, extraction, dental filling, and prophylaxis during the medical mission.