Go to PhilHealth: Start membership info drive

SEN. Bong Go urged the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) to launch a comprehensive inf ormation campaign that would focus on educating the public about the various health packages and services available to Filipinos.

Go said all Filipinos were considered PhilHealth members under the Universal Healthcare Law.

«I meet many people who don't know that they are members of PhilHealth. That should be one of the things you should do to make our countrymen more aware of becoming a member of PhilHealth,» Go said during the Senate Committee on Health and Demography public hearing on Nov. 25.

The chairman of the Senate Committee on Health said all Filipinos deserved convenient access to health care services and that health care was a fundamental human right.

He vowed to continue to find means to make medical services and programs accessible and affordable for the people.

«Our relentless scrutiny has already led to the scrapping of PhilHealth's 'flawed' Single Period of Confinement Policy. You are not allowed to admit this for 90 days for the same illness; this is what you call the no-repeat illness policy. Thank you for removing it on Sept. 30,» Go said.

He urged PhilHealth to improve its operations and ensure that health care funds were used efficiently.

After numerous appeals from Go, PhilHealth committed to increasing case rates, expanding benefits packages, especially for the top 10 mortality diseases, providing free medicines and assistive devices such as eyeglasses and wheelchairs, and including dental, visual, emergency and preventive care benefits.