Medicare Plus raising capital to P120 million

MANILA, Philippines — Health maintenance organization (HMO) provider Medicare Plus Inc. expects to end the year with a P120-million capital base to ensure compliance with the governments order to hike capitalization.

On the sidelines of the Medicare and the Public Safety Mutual Benefit Fund Inc. (PSMBFI) contract signing, Medicare president and CEO Jayjay Viray said the firm is in expansion mode and is more than ready to comply with the increase in the minimum paid-up capital.

We have raised our capital to P120 million, but we are just waiting for the approval of the SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission), Viray told reporters.

Currently, Medicare’s capital stock is at P50 million. The additional P70 million came from one partner that the HMO allowed to come in.

“We’re expecting to have it approved within the year. We don’t see any reason (for the non-approval) because we complied with everything,” Viray said.

Based on the latest regulation from the Insurance Commission, there will be an increase in the prevailing minimum paid-up capital requirement to P50 million for existing HMOs and P100 million for new ones by the end of the year.

Existing domestic HMOs must have a minimum paid-up capital of at least P10 million.

The capital will be raised again to P100 million for existing and new HMOs by end-2025.

After that, further hikes will be done every three years, which means that minimum paid-up capital should be P200 million by 2028, P350 million by 2031 and P500 million by 2034.

The HMO business is not just about getting clients. You have to study if you can support it or not. These are pooled funds,  Viray said.

We have the funds ready for that (increase). We just bought several clinics, and we are going to get more; we are able to handle our funds well, she said.

In a related development, Medicare signed a partnership agreement with PSMBFI, a duly registered, non-stock, non-profit mutual benefit fund association organized to provide insurance protection and financial and material aid to its members in the Philippine National Police.

This is the first HMO availment for PSMBFI which will cover an initial 16,000 PNP officers who have spent 20 to 24 years in service.

PSMBFI will allocate P60 million per year or P300 million in the next five years for its members’ assured total benefit of P600 million.

Eventually, PSMBFI will include more of its members in the HMO that will provide the PNP with access to healthcare services, including in-patient and out-patient care, emergency services, dental care, consultations and laboratory tests, among others.