Senior citizens enrolled in PhilHealth near 10 million

MANILA, Philippines — Almost 10 million senior citizens are registered with the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) as of June this year, the state insurer reported yesterday.

According to PhilHealth, the 9.7 million elderly now registered with the agency have combined qualified dependents of 3.3 million.

PhilHealth noted that from January to June this year, they paid a total of P9.408 billion in benefits, representing some 988,000 claims filed by elderly members nationwide.

Among the senior citizens’ top medical conditions are community-acquired pneumonia, hypertension, cerebral infarction or stroke, urinary tract infection and congestive heart failure.

PhilHealth president and chief executive officer Dante Gierran reminded Filipinos aged 60 years and above that they are “mandatorily covered” under the National Health Insurance Program pursuant to Republic Act 10645, and reaffirmed under Republic Act 11223 or the Universal Health Care Law of 2019.

Gierran also urged the elderly to ensure that they are “duly registered or are updated in their records with PhilHealth.”

“We have partnered with the Office for Senior Citizens Affairs (OSCA) in the local government units so that elderly Filipinos can be registered with PhilHealth conveniently,” he added.

The elderly’s annual premium contribution with PhilHealth shall be covered by proceeds of the Sin Tax Law, provided that they are not currently covered by any existing membership category of the agency.