ILOILO City – The Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) has covered 95.25 percent of the Western Visayas population, according to the agency.
Of the 7,796,744 projected population of the region, 7,426,010 have been covered by the government health insurance, PhilHealth-6 Public Affairs Unit head Janimhe Jalbuna told reporters Tuesday.
The PhilHealth regional office held a thanksgiving event for the press at Madison Hotel on Delgado Street.
Of the covered Region 6 residents, 3,946,074 were members while 3,479,936 were their dependents, Jalbuna said.
Among provinces, Aklan had the highest enrollment rate with 107.80 percent – 645,083 (members and dependents) enrolled out of 598,411 projected population.
Capiz had 105.38 percent (828,582 out of 786,265); Guimaras, 101.34 percent (184,076 out of 181,647); Antique, 100.1 percent (604,224 out of 603,607); Iloilo, 95.45 percent (2,364,612 out of 2,477,242); and Negros Occidental, 88.88 percent (2,799,433 out of 3,149,572).
Among sectors, the indigents composed majority of the covered members at 3,161,962 (members and dependents).
The formal sector followed with 1,720,170; informal sector, 1,490,507; senior citizens, 669,319; lifetime members, 215,095; and sponsored members, 168,957, PhilHealth-6 data showed.
In terms of paid claims as of Oct. 31, the highest was among indigents at P1,873,648,616.23, next was among senior citizens at P1,445,207,417.45, said the agency.
This shows that mostly poor and old members were availing themselves of PhilHealth services, which include hospitalization benefits, according to Jalbuna.
Making up the top 10 medical claims in the region were Pneumonia Moderate Risk, Acute Gastroenteritis, Urinary Tract Infections Admissible, Hypertensive Emergency Urgency, Newborn Sepsis, Pneumonia High Risk, Primary Care, Peptic Ulcer Disease Without Hemorrhage, Dengue Fever, and Stroke Infarction.
Among surgical claims, the top five were Hemodialysis Procedure, Normal Newborn Care Package, Normal Spontaneous Delivery Package, Maternity Care Package, and Chemotherapy Administration.
PhilHealth-6 was aiming for a 100-percent enrollment rate in the coming months, said Acting Regional Vice President Janet Monteverde.
Among their ways were the cleanup of their database – particularly to weed out duplicate PhilHealth numbers – and the enrollment via point of service, where a poor but non-PhilHealth member patient gets enrolled upon verification of status, Monteverde explained./PN
