Senator and Chair of the Senate Committee on Health Bong Go maintained the need to scale up the government’s health interventions as he renewed his appeal to the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation to be more proactive in anticipating the health needs of Filipinos, particularly those who are facing financial strain.
During the Senate Committee on Health hearing on the Universal Health Care law and PhilHealth premium on Wednesday, 1 February, Go cited that his proposed special provision under the PhilHealth 2023 budget was successfully adopted, which indicated the use of the PhP21 billion budget pertaining to benefit package improvement under Universal Health Care Act.
“I earlier proposed that this budget should be used for the expansion of free dialysis coverage, mental health outpatient coverage, the implementation of the comprehensive outpatient benefit package, including free medical check-up and other increases in benefit packages,” Go noted.
The senator then questioned the health insurer on their plans to further expand the coverage of outpatient hemodialysis, underscoring, “Pero kung kaya naman itong i-implement ng PhilHealth ngayon lalo na at mayroong budget para dito, mas mabuti. May I know lang sa PhilHealth, is PhilHealth planning to further expand dialysis coverage? How many sessions do dialysis patients usually need and how many sessions are they planning to cover?”
Acting PhilHealth President Emmanuel Ledesma Jr. then confirmed that the agency is already laying out its plans to increase its coverage for outpatient hemodialysis from 144 to a maximum of 156, despite the suspension of the contribution increase.
Currently, PhilHealth members diagnosed with stage 5 chronic kidney disease and enrolled in PhilHealth Dialysis Database are eligible to receive up to 144 hemodialysis treatments.
Meanwhile, Go stressed that there are many disadvantaged patients who are reaching out to his office for help, sharing, “Maraming lumalapit po sa aming mga opisina, humihingi ng tulong para sa dialysis, humihingi ng tulong para ma-expand ang dialysis coverage ng PhilHealth.”
“It is the reason why I filed Senate Bill No. 190 — mandating PhilHealth to fully cover all costs of dialysis treatments, sessions, and procedures done in PhilHealth-accredited health facilities,” he cited.
If passed into law, SBN 190 or the proposed “Free Dialysis Act of 2022” will task PhilHealth, in consultation with the Health Technology Assessment Council, to develop a comprehensive dialysis benefit package that shall fully cover all costs of hemodialysis and peritoneal dialysis treatments, sessions and procedures done in PhilHealth accredited-health facilities.