Interest on health insurance growing

THE number of Filipinos covered by mandatory health insurance has jumped by more than six times over the past five years, to more or less 38.5 million, according to a government think tank. The increased enrolment bred optimism that more Filipinos down the line will invest in a health-insurance policy from commercial service providers as the local economy continues to expand and even more Filipinos have access to so-called disposable income.The mandatory Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) enrollment of all Filipinos, provided under the National Health Insurance Act of 2013, brings a sense of real optimism about the future of health care, insurance executives said. The government think tank, Philippine Institute for Development Studies (PIDS), said PhilHealth enrollees and beneficiaries made a quantum leap from 6.3 million in 2004 to 38.5 million in 2011. Based on available data, out of the 38.5 million members and beneficiaries, 19.6 million were enrolled on a regular Department of Health program, while 18.9 million were households under the National Household Targeting System, whose health-care insurance are sponsored by local government units (LGUs). According to PIDS Consultant Dr. Raymunda Silfverberg, the 38.5 million enrollees were subsidized by the government through the Priority Development Assistance Fund, or pork barrel, of certain legislators. "The government really worked hard to cover so much. There are families that are covered by the program when they are not supposed to be in the program and yet there are families which are excluded,” she said.