Depends if they are pinoys or not. Philhealth is not so bad for a Filipino. A foreigner better choose a different healt care company.

 

We are Filipinos. Philhealth deducts very little from a huge bill. It does help but not enough. Any other recommendations?

 

Depends on your budget. Did you checked Pacific Cross?

 

Thanks. I will check it out.

 

Then there is the Caritas Health Shield. But it looks not that great to me. Best used in conjunction together with Philhealth.

 

YEP, I agree, Pacific Cross seems to me the best offer!

 

Check also if they are paying the hospital directly or if you have to pay in advance and then get the refund back. Later option is really bad if the hospital costs is extremly high. I heard of a case where someone died because he was not able to pay in advance for a multimillion treatment even being having a health insurance with enough cover for it. Get a health insurance which pays the hospital directly even if that one costs more premium.

 

Agree! What you are saying is absolutely CRTICAL! My wife has a Pacific Cross peso plan which pays the hospital directly. She can avail that plan for a few years until she turns 65. After 65, Pacific Cross does not provide a Peso plan that pays directly to the hospital. They do have a dollar plan that pays like that; such plans are popular amongst temporary visitors and employees of foreign companies (I suspect). But if you pay P50K for the plan before age 65, then at age 65 you would have to switch to a dollar plan which costs 4 times as much (but please check for yourself...there are so many options that maybe a dollar plan would be perfect for you). So my wife gets the pay-hospital-direct coverage and I purchase the “reimbursable” peso plan meaning I have to have money in the bank in case I go to the hospital. I did a quick check on Carritas and actually, when combined with Phil Health it may be just what people over age 65 need. It looks like Carritas may be the hospital directly even after age 65. If you are over 65, Pacific Cross probably isn’t for you unless you self- insure but then, what’s the point? Carritas plus Phil Health is next on my list but only if the coverage maximum is a few orders of magnitude above my premium (low insurance coverage is another big problem that you gave to check for yourself...please do that!). For example, if your premium is P50000 but your max insurance limit is P250000 (like US $5000.00), that is a rip-off but insurers here with no international experience think that you are getting a good deal. What is good deal? P50,000,000.00 or US$ 1,000,000.00. That would be a typical American plan where you pay $17K per year. But even with higher premium, the US plan gives you a reasonable maximum payout that 99.9% will never need.


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A thing you can do is to check your regional hospitals about which health insurances do pay the hospital directly independent of your age. Then try to get a health insurance at a mentioned insurance.

One thing about Caritas Health Shield. Even if it is not great at least afaik they do not check for preexisting conditions.