00:00 Good news for our fellow PhilHealth members.
00:03 Because PhilHealth will now increase its benefit coverage by up to 50%.
00:08 That means half of your hospital bill has been paid by PhilHealth,
00:13 in accordance with the call of the camera.
00:15 But when will that be implemented?
00:18 Let's find out in the report of Mela Las Moras, Rise and Shine Mela.
00:22 As part of the call of House Speaker Martin Romualdez,
00:29 the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation, or PhilHealth,
00:32 has agreed to increase its benefit coverage to its members
00:36 from the current 30% to 50%.
00:40 In the House Committee on Health's hearing,
00:42 this is one of the main discussions where state insurers
00:46 are facing the officials,
00:48 led by PhilHealth President and CEO, Emanuel Ledesma Jr.
00:53 According to House Deputy Majority Leader for Communications Erwin Tulfo,
00:57 for now, the mechanics and system will be planned
01:00 for the implementation of the new benefit package.
01:03 But the camera is hoping that it can be implemented as soon as possible.
01:08 For example, if your bill is P300,000, PhilHealth will pay P150,000.
01:14 I believe that the doctors' fees and professional fees will be included in the bill.
01:19 PhilHealth will pay for it.
01:22 What they will do is to study the mechanics
01:26 and the timing of the implementation.
01:30 But the Speaker is asking the PhilHealth board of directors and their CEO
01:36 to study ASAP as much as possible if they can implement it this year.
01:43 With the increase in benefits,
01:45 won't this increase in contributions?
01:49 According to the House leader,
01:50 PhilHealth's fund is sufficient
01:52 so there's no need to increase their premium.
01:56 Aside from our contributions,
01:58 the House also gave a budget for PhilHealth for this year.
02:03 So it will be sufficient enough.
02:05 I asked the House and their answer is that it's sufficient to cover that.
02:10 While the implementation of 50 percent coverage is still being waited for,
02:13 PhilHealth first increased the number of cameras.
02:16 Effectively, on February 14,
02:18 they increased the coverage of their hospital members for their respective diseases and situations by 30 percent.
02:26 This was answered by congressmen like AgriPartylist Representative Wilbert Lee,
02:31 who has long been a watchman for the benefits provided by the state insurer.
02:35 As a reminder to the public,
02:36 the importance of reducing the hospital bills answered by PhilHealth
02:41 is to ensure that the benefit coverage you receive is enough.
02:46 You should ask for a breakdown of the deductions.
02:50 We learned that some hospitals,
02:53 because of the long payment of PhilHealth,
02:56 are reducing the deductions.
02:59 So as a reminder,
03:01 before you agree on how much to reduce,
03:04 look at each of those.
03:07 Before the discussion on the benefit coverage,
03:10 PhilHealth noted that they have already paid
03:12 the 50 billion pesos of the Unsettled Claims
03:16 to the hospitals and doctors who were previously complained to their agencies.
03:20 The state insurer assured that they will continue to improve their services
03:26 in the name of the more sustainable life of Filipinos.
03:29 Melalas Moras for Pambansang TV in Bagong, Philippines.
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