PhilHealth to shoulder full cost of COVID-19 treatment until April 14

The full cost of treatment of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) patients in hospitals and health facilities will be shouldered by the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) until the end of the Luzon-wide enhanced community quarantine on April 14.

“Due to the growing public concern over the financial costs of getting treatment for the COVID-19, please be informed that the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. will shoulder the full cost of treatment for all COVID-19 cases until April 14, 2020,” PhilHealth president and CEO Ricardo Morales said in a letter to all accredited hospitals and health care facilities accommodating COVID-19 patients.

As of the latest tally, the Philippines has recorded 2,633 COVID-19 cases  with a total of 107 fatalities and 51 recoveries.

Morales said after April 14, the PhilHealth will continue providing financial coverage to COVID-19 cases through a “recomputed case rate.”

“The reason for this accommodation window is due to the novelty and the wide range of severity of the disease in the country for which no existing case rate or package based on accepted protocols has yet been established,” he said.

“PhilHealth is confident that by the above mentioned date, more about the behavior of the disease in the Philippines can be learned, a final protocol established, and an appropriate case rate can be developed that will provide adequacy and sustainability to the anti-COVID-19 campaign,” he added.

The  state health insurer will issue a new set of guidelines which will include the appropriate case rate based on “accepted protocols in dealing with the disease.”

“Furthermore, as stipulated under the R.A. 11469 also known as the ‘Bayanihan We Heal as One Act,’ all health workers will be covered beyond the April 14, 2020 cut-off date for all work and COVID-19 related health services,” Morales said.

“Due to the exigency of the times, this will include all other personnel necessary for the operation of a health facility,” he said.—AOL, GMA News