More families now with Philhealth

CEBU, Philippines - Seven barangays in the Provinces of Cebu and Negros Oriental enrolled a total of 1,481 poor constituents in PhilHealth’s Sponsored Program.

Three sponsoring barangays are in Cebu City, one in Consolacion, Cebu, and three in Tayasan, Negros Oriental.

 In Cebu City, Barangay Capitol Site enrolled 800 poor families withBarangays Apas and Lorega San Miguel each sponsored 165 members. In Consolacion’s Barangay Pulpogan sponsored the premium of 200 constituents.

In Tayasan, Barangays Linao, Lutay and Magtuhao shouldered the premium of a total of 151 poor constituents.

Philhealth-7 Public Affairs Unit in a statement sent to The Freeman said that through the support of these barangays, poor families enrolled as sponsored members can now avail of PhilHealth benefits within the validity period indicated in their PhilHealth ID and Member Data Record.

 Like all other PhilHealth members, sponsored members can avail of PhilHealth benefits when confined for at least 24 hours in PhilHealth-accredited hospitals or admitted for outpatient treatment, such as dialysis, chemotherapy, radiotherapy and ambulatory or day surgeries, among others.

 It added that members are also entitled to free primary preventive and diagnostic services, as well as free drugs and medicines in accredited rural health units or health centers under PhilHealth’s Primary Care Benefit 1 (PCB1) package.

 The package includes services like free consultation, regular blood pressure monitoring and visual inspection with acetic acid. It also covers procedures such as complete blood count (CBC), urinalysis and chest X-ray. Free drugs and medicines for asthma (not requiring admission), acute gastroenteritis with no or mild dehydration, upper respiratory tract infection or low risk pneumonia, and urinary tract infection are also included in the PCB1 package.

 PhilHealth’s No Balance Billing Policy (NBB) also applies for members sponsored by these barangays when admitted in accredited government hospitals for illnesses or surgical procedures covered under PhilHealth’s case rates.

NBB means PhilHealth’s coverage is sufficient to cover the cost of treatment and no other fees should be charged to or paid for by the member beyond the identified case rate.

 PhilHealth benefits and the NBB extend to qualified dependents of the principal sponsored member, that is, the legal spouse, children below 21 years old and parents aged 60 years or older.  (FREEMAN)