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Bacolod City, Philippines Tuesday, April 24, 2012
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City inks MOA
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BY CHRYSEE SAMILLANO

The Bacolod City government has entered into a memorandum of agreement with the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation yesterday for the enrollment of 15,000 Bacoleños in the national health insurance program.

Bacolod Mayor Evelio Leonardia yesterday said the MOA between the city and PhilHealth headed by Dr. Eduardo Banzon, on the two-year coverage of beneficiaries in Bacolod, was with the support of Vice Mayor Jude Thaddeus Sayson, City Health Officer Dr. Salome Biñas and executive assistant Butch Soliguen.

PhilHealth regional manager Dennis Mas said they are happy that Leonardia has enrolled 15,000 sponsored members, who will have no balance billing, that means they have nothing to pay if they are confined in a government facility.

Lourdes Jocson, PhilHealth Field Operations Division chief, said there are about 170,000 PhilHealth members in Bacolod City, based on their enrollment figures. Out of the 170,000 members, there are 28,000 sponsored program members, who belong to the lower income bracket of society, she said.

DEPENDENTS, TOO

Jocson said the dependents of the 28,000 families are also covered by PhilHealth. Approximately, they cover 112,000 members from the lower sector of the city who include about 13,000 government-sponsored families, she said.

The total PhilHealth membership in Bacolod City is 168,000, and still growing, since there are additional enrollees, Jocson said “That would be an estimated 506,000 Bacolodnons covered by the national health insurance program,” she said.

With the 15,000 sponsorship of the mayor, they are nearing universal coverage in Bacolod City, she added.

Jocson said about 40,000 of the population of Bacolod are not yet covered by PhilHealth. For 2012, Bacolod City has a population of 546,000 which they have used as their benchmark, she said.

PhilHealth will launch in June the individual group enrollment for market vendors, drivers, casual employees of the city, among others, who will be provided discounts and out patient benefits, she added.

Jocson said they will seek assistance from the city in reaching to these groups to ensure that all the 546,000 people of Bacolod City are covered by PhilHealth.

PRIMARY CARE

They launched the Primary Care Benefit package on April 1, where all sponsored program members will be assigned to a local health facility or rural health unit, she said. They will ask these health units to render certain sets of primary outpatient services to ensure the physical well-being of the sponsored program members, she added.

Sponsored program members can also avail of certain sets of diagnostic examinations for free at the health units, Jocson said, adding that PhilHealth will release a corresponding package to ensure that they are provided medicines.

Mas said they were able to pay P3.1 billion in benefits in Region VI last year and have collected only P1.3 billion.

In Region VI, about 128 local governments have committed to PhilHealth for a two year coverage – for a premium rate of P600 this year and P1,200 for next year, or a total of P1,800 per member, he said.

Mas said the total Overseas Filipino Workers in Bacolod who are enrolled in PhilHealth are about 13,856.* CGS

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