Acting Governor Genaro Alvarez Jr. yesterday announced that PhilHealth has agreed to charge Negros Occidental local government units only P600 for its sponsored indigent members this year, and P1,200 next year.

This is good news for the local government units and the congressmen with indigent enrollees in PhilHealth, he said.

The provincial government and the 31 mayors of Negros Occidental had earlier agreed to withdraw payment of premiums for their 148,081 indigent enrollees with PhilHealth, and instead pay the amount directly to the Negros Occidental Comprehensive Health Care Program that will be their health insurance provider instead.

They threatened to withdraw their indigent enrollees in PhilHealth this year after they were informed that their premiums had been increased from P600 annually to P1,200, as the national government was no longer providing its P600 counterpart.

They, however, agreed not to withdraw when Dr. Eduardo Banzon, PhilHealth president and chief executive officer, offered to enter into a memorandum of agreement with the LGUs wherein they register their indigent beneficiaries for two-year coverage, by paying only P600 now and the remaining P1,800 at the end of 2013.

Alvarez said PhilHealth has since further improved its offer.

The LGUs will only have to pay P600 per enrollee this year and P1,200 next year, provided they enter into a two year memorandum of agreement, he said.

The NOCHCP acts as a back-up for the health care PhilHealth offers its members.

The PhilHealth data presented earlier showed that the Negros Occidental provincial government and its towns and cities paid P60.8 million in premiums to PhilHealth for its 146,261 beneficiaries in 2011.

PhilHealth in turn paid P154.1 million in health care claims of the 146,261 beneficiaries, and capitation funds of P38.6 million to Negros Occidental for a total of P192.8 million, its report showed.

That means Negros Occidental LGUs made a profit of P132 million in claims of their beneficiaries and capitation funds paid by PhilHealth in 2011, the report added.*CPG

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