Pantawid IP beneficiaries get health insurance
ILOILO CITY, (PNA) – Households belonging to Indigenous Peoples (IPs) who are living in Geographically Isolated and Disadvantaged Areas (GIDA) could now avail of the National Health Insurance Program benefits of the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth).
These IPs are covered by the Modified Conditional Cash Transfer (MMCT) of the Department of Social Welfare and Development 6 (DSWD-6).
The MCCT Program is designed to reach out to families who are poor and more vulnerable and disadvantaged but are not covered by the regular Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) because of their exclusion in the enumeration of the National Household Targeting System (NHTS) or Listahanan, a house-to-house assessment of poor households.
At present, there are 1,671 IP households covered by MCCT program in Western Visayas. Of the number, Aklan has 687 families; Negros Occidental, 621; and Antique, 363.
Aside from this, there are 8,917 IP households covered by the regular CCT, also known as Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps).
As Pantawid beneficiaries, these IPs are entitled to the Primary Care Benefit Package: Tamang Serbisyo sa Kalusugan ng Pamilya (Tsekap), Inpatient and Outpatient Care Services, and the No Balance Billing policy privilege for confinements due to medical conditions and surgical procedures under the case rate system.
To avail themselves of the NHIP benefits and services, all MCCT beneficiaries need to present their Pantawid Pamilya-MCCT Identification Cards or if already available their PhilHealth Member Data Records (MDRs).
Most of the target beneficiaries of MCCT are those homeless street families, IPs and Families in Need of Special Protection (FNSP).
In the region, only IPs are covered by the MCCT program.
Qualified beneficiaries are those with children aged 0-18 years and/or with pregnant members of the family at the time of selection. They must be willing and committed to comply with the program conditionalities and cooperate in the helping process and they must be excluded from NHTS database and the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program.
Direct grants given to family beneficiaries (not exceeding three child dependents) are per month for education of each child enrolled in day care, pre-school and elementary, education grant of per month for each child if enrolled in high school and health grant of for each beneficiary household.