PhilHealth expands coverage to rare diseases, mobility devices

The Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth) said on Tuesday that it will expand its healthcare packages soon to cover rare diseases and mobility devices.

Israel Francis Pargas, PhilHealth senior vice president for health finance policy sector, said that among the 10 rare diseases that will soon be covered are inborn errors of metabolism, lysosomal storage diseases, and maple syrup urine syndrome.

“So far po sa sampu na ‘yan, mayroong identified cases tayo sa ngayon. Ayan po yang mga yan, pwede siya ma-diagnose sa pagkabata pa lang,” said Pargas in Bagong Pilipinas Ngayon.

(In those ten diseases, we already have identified cases in the country. These diseases can be diagnosed at the young age.)

Further, the state health insurer will also cover assistive mobility devices like wheelchairs for those who are prescribed with it.

“Kalimitan pong inirereklamo ng ating mga kababayan yung, halimbawa, pananakit ng likod nila and any other mobility issues na kung saan kinakailangan rin po ng rehabilitation, or at the very worst of it, kailangan ng mga assistive devices tulad po ng wheelchair or crutches. Kung ito ay ipe-prescribe ng doktor, ito po ay iko-cover na rin ng PhilHealth,” said Pargas.

(The public usually complain about their aching backs and any other mobility issues which sometimes require rehabilitation or, at the very worst, assistive devices like wheelchairs or crutches would be needed. If this will be prescribed by the doctor, then PhilHealth will cover it.)

PhilHealth said that it is hoping to finalize the policies on the new packages before the year ends.

“Pero para po doon sa mga specific rules for every package na ilalabas natin, ginagawa pa natin yung kabuuan ng polisiya at hopefully yung policy mailabas natin ngayon pong Desiyembre para ma-implement natin siya bago matapos ang taon,” Pargas added.

(But for the specific rules for every package that we will release, we are still working on the policies and hopefully, we can issue them this December so we can implement it before the year ends.)

The state health insurer earlier announced that it will now cover dental care services such as mouth examination/oral screening, dental prophylaxis or cleaning, and fluoride varnish application. — BAP, GMA Integrated News