Health insurance commits P330M for Bacolod

BACOLOD City – The Philippine Health Insurance Corp. ( PhilHealth) has committed P330 million to the special health fund (SHF) for the preventive program implementation of Bacolod’s city-wide health system.

E d g a r Yo c a r i z a , PhilHealth- Bacolod head, disclosed this during the signing of a memorandum of understanding ( MOU) for l ocal health system integration at the Bacolod City Government Center on Monday, Dec. 4.

M a y o r A l f r e d o Abelardo Benitez signed on behalf of the city; Dr. Mary Pauline Gestosani, chief of the Department of Health ( DOH) Region 6’ s Regulations, Licensing and Enforcement Division, represented Regional Director Adriano Subaan; and Yocariza signed on behalf of PhilHealthWestern Vi s ayas vice president Janet Monteverde.

Benitez said the MOU included two parts of the health program: preventive and curative.

“For us to have a lesser headache in curative, let us also focus on preventive,” the mayor said, noting PhilHealth’s “Konsulta” Package.

Yocariza, in his message, said PhilHealth’s “Konsulta” Package covers three major benefits:

* Professional services, which cover consultation and case management, are to be provided by health professionals such as doctors, nurses, midwives, and even barangay health workers during the first patient encounter.

* PhilHealth Konsulta also covers 21 drugs and medicines for common colds, coughs, pneumonia, diarrhea, urinary tract infections, and hypertension.

* I t also covers 13 l abora t ory t es t s l i ke complete blood count, urinalysis, fecalysis, sputum microscopy, fasting blood sugar, electrocardiogram, and chest X- ray, among others.

The P330 million provided by the said office will be released in three tranches and will be governed by the local health board.

Councilor Claudio Jesus Puentevella, chair of the Sangguniang Panlungsod committee on health, said the local health board will formulate guidelines on how beneficiaries can avail themselves of the program.

Republic Act 11223, or the Universal Health Care Act (UHC), was signed into law in 2019. It ensures all Filipinos have access to preventive, promotive, curative, rehabilitative, and palliative health care services.

The SHF, a financial integration mechanism from the UHC law, aims to consolidate funding pools in a local government.

It will serve as a funding pool for the integrated local health system for personnel, commodities, capital, facilities, and other expenses. (