JEDDAH, 2 September 2007 — An official of the Philippines’ biggest group of job placement agencies has urged the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth) to include municipal and provincial centers in the coverage of its expanded and enhanced out-patient program for overseas workers to make it more effective.
Victor Fernandez Jr., president of the Philippine Association of Service Exporters, Inc. (PASEI), said that PhilHealth package being pilot-tested is good in concept but very limited in time, funding and coverage. “You cannot expect to achieve something significant with a pittance of funding considering the big number of Overseas Filipino Workers and their dependents,” said Fernandez, who is currently in the Kingdom on a business trip.
Under a memorandum of agreement PhilHealth signed with the Department of Health (DOH) recently, vacationing OFWs and their legal dependents would get enhanced medical benefits under a “zero co-pay system” or free medical services with accredited hospitals until December.
“The benefit package also adopts a zero co-pay system, meaning there will be no out-of-pocket expenses for OWP members and dependents availing themselves of the services rendered by DOH hospitals,” said Dr. Lorna O. Fajardo, acting PhilHealth president and CEO.
The new package will be available until this month (September) in government hospitals in Metro Manila. From October onward, the package will also be available in other DOH hospitals in various parts of the country. PhilHealth will release the list of participating hospitals soon.
Responsiveness
Fajardo said the package hopes to make PhilHealth more responsive to the needs of OFWs and their legal dependents.
Under the current system, however, many OFWs are not covered because payment of premium for PhilHealth are no longer done in Philippine overseas missions. Philippine Overseas Labor Offices used to collect such premium payments under the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration’s Medicare program, which was absorbed by PhilHealth several years ago.
The result of this is that the PhilHealth membership of many OFWs who have two-year contracts or more remain unrenewed until they return home.
One common complaint reaching Arab News is the alleged denial of service by PhilHealth to an OFW’s dependents within the first three months of the worker’s departure from the Philippines.
Moreover, OFW dependents could avail themselves of benefits only when they are hospitalized.
Fernandez wrote PhilHealth on July 24 to widen the scope and coverage of the expanded OPB package in January. He also proposed that OFWs’ yearly contribution of P900 be raised to P1,200 each to cover adequately their beneficiaries’ medical needs. “Under our proposal, this P300 per year additional contribution must be used exclusively for the out-patient benefit coverage and primary care consultations and medical needs,” he said.
He expressed confidence that OFWs would not object to contributing and additional $6.5 to their yearly PhilHealth premium if the purpose is explained to them beforehand.
Fernandez said PhilHealth, however, has to be more vigilant to prevent fraudulent claims, which were reported to have deprived the agency of at least P1 billion the past few years.
Fajardo said PhilHealth is now in the process of making consultations “with different entities interested in the plight of overseas workers.”
