PhilHealth @ 19: “Benepisyong PhilHealth, Alamin at Gamitin”


(Special Article for the 19th Anniversary Newspaper Supplements)
February 17, 2014

The Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth) is marking its 19th year as a state-run agency mandated to administer the National Health Insurance Program (NHIP).
It was on February 14, 1995 when then President Fidel V. Ramos signed into law Republic Act 7875 as amended, signaling the birth of a whole new program that caters not only to a few sectors but the entire Filipino population.
The mandate is clear: universality in the strictest terms because the law provides that "...the State shall provide comprehensive health care services to all Filipinos through socialized health insurance program...".
Such gargantuan task is daunting but judging by the parade of successes and groundbreaking accomplishments in the past 19 years, PhilHealth has rightfully earned its place in the hearts and consciousness of the populace here and even beyond our shores. How can one ignore the fact that to date, eight of every ten Filipinos are already registered to the program? The latest count (December 2013) placed PhilHealth’s membership at 77 million which accounts for close to 80 percent of the total projected population of 97 million.
The promise is simple: it is providing Filipinos with the needed financial protection when illnesses arise in the family. People now equate PhilHealth with the first peso that substantially covers essential health care costs availed of in accredited government and private health care facilities. A Social Weather Stations survey in December 2012 validates such claim with net 82 percent of members expressing satisfaction with the support and protection they get from PhilHealth.
As PhilHealth marks this year with greater fervor and zeal, it takes a good steady look at what really matters, and that is making sure that its members are kept abreast of their benefits and privileges, and are able to use and maximize them when the need occurs.
Hence, the theme for this year’s anniversary celebration "Benepisyong PhilHealth: Alamin at Gamitin" which draws inspiration from our very members themselves.

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