Dr. Beverly Lorraine Ho, OIC Health Undersecretary, and Renato Limsiaco Jr., PhilHealth senior vice president, at the Negros Occidental Universal Health Care Summit in Bacolod City on Thursday.*Richard Malihan photo
The Philippine Health Insurance Corp. will be allocating billions of pesos for the primary health care of Negrenses with the implementation of the Universal Health Care (UHC) law, a PhilHealth official said Thursday, November 24.
So far PhilHealth has accredited 19 consultation clinics in Negros Occidental to serve the primary health care needs of Negrenses, and there are six more with pending applications, Renato Limsiaco Jr., PhilHealth senior vice president on UHC administration, said.
Limsiaco and Dr. Beverly Lorraine Ho, , OIC Health Undersecretary, were among the speakers at the Negros Occidental Universal Health Care Summit with the theme, “Identifying and Bridging Gaps Towards Full Implementation” at the Ayala Malls Capitol Central conference hall in Bacolod City.
Ho said the two main goals of the UHC is to enable Filipinos to take care of themselves and their communities, and the second part is being able to take care of them when they need it.
This is by providing health care providers for every Filipino family, she said.
A primary health care network will be the first line of defense that is why the PhilHealth is accrediting clinics for that, Limsiaco said.
Such services will be on top of PhilHealth’s coverage for hospitalization, he said.
Ho pointed out that since the implementation of the sin tax law government has annually been increasing the budget for the health needs of Filipinos.
“There is increasing recognition from our leaders, legislators that health is important,” she said.
The challenge for the Negros Occidental provincial government is to lead the way in the setting up of a UHC Integrated Local Health System, Ho said.
The establishment of the UHC system was delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic, Limsiaco said.
The target is to complete the setting up of the machinery by 2023 and to have the UHC fully operational by 2024, he said.
Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson said if zero billing for indigent patients is achieved under the UHC, there may be no more need for the Negros Occidental Health Care Program in the future.
He said there is no time more fitting to robustly implement the UHC law and adopt the needed reforms than now.
Limsiaco said PhilHealth will provide those registered under the UHC program P500 for consultations in public facilities and P750 for private facilities. They will also be provided with medicines, he added.*