Health & Wellness Best Posts in Thread: Philhealth for an expat?

Yes! I went to Philhealth at Robinson Place Mall. It is next to the CRs at the food court upstairs. Filled out the form, only had to supply a copy of my ACR card. I am married to a Filipina so I also provided a copy of our marriage certificate. Waited for about 5 minutes, she gave me a bill and sent me over to Western Union to pay for this quarter Oct-Dec. p600 for the quarter no pro-rating the fee. Adding my wife was no additional charge. I was 3rd in line at Western Union, so 15 minutes waiting there. Went back to Philhealth with the receipt and she gave me my card and Philhealth receipt. You have to get a 1x1 photo, attach it, sign the card and have it laminated. I got package 2 at the photo guy next to the german bakery in Valencia. p70 for 3 1x1, 4 2x2 photos and laminating the Philhealth card. Come January I will probably pay for the entire 2017 p600 x four quarters and be done with it for a while.

 

In duma hosp writing this.Dont bother with Philhealth Ins as of june 2017.I have been a huge fan of Philhealth for years and have benefitted greatly having been in hosp 2x for kidney stones once in 2013 and again in 2016.I was amazed at 2400p yearly premium and in 2 shortish hosp stays Philhealth paid together over 35000p of my hospital bills...fantastic value indeed!Well sadly all has changed drastically and imho is no longer worth bothering with.Premiums now 18000p yearly which still sounds very cheap right?Except now instead of paying a percentage of your bill they have "Case Rates"...X pesos per condition per hospitalization....and the new case rates are VERY low. IE...I am currently in hospital for a moderate heart attack..current bill sitting at approx 150k...Case Rate is max 18900p.Was a great deal before...now I think just putting aside a rainy day fund of 1500p a month is a wiser choice and every healthy year u have you are even further ahead.Just my recent experience and I know I will not be opting for the new premium and case rate system once I get out of hospital. Good health all

 

Ok, so after much discussion I believe and many phone calls to HO (Philhealth) Manila. Azons' Company Secretary had this to tell us ( I say us, as he has done this for me on our behalf so we can know)
The rules are such, Unified Dependency will not change, that is, those Married and here on a 13a or other such Visa that makes us Permanent Residents ( Operative word is Legally Married) will still be a dependent of our Spouse and enjoy the benefits of the scheme ( as per Law) but where anyone now covered by a Live in Wife will not, However should a Foreigner become a member they can claim for others as Listed on the Policy, Tourists on 9a temporary or otherwise must take out a policy of their own.
This is the state of Play as I am told at 6.15pm this evening
So G % G's the Emphasis is Married and a Permanent Resident to continue your Philhealth Dependency Cover.
He was told that the Circular was actually bady written in Parts and omitted some vital facts that may have led to the confusion it obviously has.
Let's hope that all this is just not Hogwash but I am inclined to believe the issue given to whom it was relayed to

 

You hit the nail on the head. Its surely a way to keep hospital beds full. If it was to help cover hospital costs they wouldn't have such silly rules and simply require the attending doctors to agree with the release and home treatment which would be far cheaper. Many of these cases someone could go home in 24-48 hours and do at home medications and get better just as quick if not quicker as people are more comfortable and happier at home then in a hospital.

It doesn't pay the whole thing. Its a a partial payment with a fixed amount paid depending on the issue. You could get out with just 24 hours in and have a bill of 3-4k or stay the 4 days to get PhilHealth coverage and still pay 3-4k or a LOT more. Many of the things they do at the hospital they consider mandatory aren't needed such as IV's for everyone under the sun yet when have you seen an admitted patient not have an IV? Most issues someone can drink water just fine and often do. Add in the doctors fee's which change drastically if they consider you poor or not which could be 500p a day or 2500p a day depending on what the doctor feels like and IF you end up having a 2nd doctor specialist take a look their fee adds in as well and they love bringing in a specialist if they can find the silliest reason to.

In the end many a time going home early and forgoing Philhealth coverage can save sanity and money. It all depends on the issue and how much longer one would have to wait to qualify.

 

A funny not funny question.
Would the 76 hours be from admission to discharge or from admission to settling your account. The reason I ask is one time my wife was discharged at 10:00 am and it took accounting until 5:00 pm to get the bill sorted out. They wanted her to stay one more night while they "worked" on the bill and she said okay but I'm not paying for the extra night. The sorted the bill pretty quick after that.

 

Philhealth doesn't cover medicine at all. It covers the hospital stay and doctors fee's up to its amount. You must be admitted for 4 days now for them to pay out which goes based on days bills. Each medical issue has a different amount covered. Usually they will cap out at 10-15k for admitted medical issues that are fairly common(giving birth is different and less). If you check out early at all your screwed and won't get a single peso from PhilHealth and the hospital may not even inform you that your not covered by Philhealth so make sure you go to the Philhealth desk first to make sure already eligible and their forms are filled out.

Philhealth now costs 600p a quarter I believe so 2400p a year. A number of locals however can get free philhealth through their barangay and while not sure how it works my son was recently in Holy Child and the bill was racking up while my son didn't seem to get better. My lady was worried on the cost so started seeing what options they had at her barangay hall and found out she and my son both had Philhealth through the barangay although we don't pay for it at all. It ended up saving me 15k (11k if don't count the extra day he had to stay to qualify at the 4 day mark). Doctors fee however was 6k of that for only visiting 5 minutes each day.

 

Excuse my ignorance on this issue, but I thought "Foreign Nationals" are already permitted to take out Phil Health insurance and that the change taking place is to charge them more and give them less back. ​

 

Imho many are wrongly looking only at the yearly premium whether p2400 or p18000 is irrellavant when considering the biggest change is the new "Case Rate" payment system.One only needs to check the payments allowed for each treatment to see Philhealth has lost most if not all appeal to an expat.Most illnesses under new case rate qualify for 6k..8k..10k,,,thats it.My recent stay in Siliman qualified me for the max payment of 18,900p on a bill of 160,000p.......

 

You won't be in Kansas anymore so direct price comparisons like that are not relevant. Average US income $51,000/yr vs average Philippine income $3,500/yr so it's not even apples to oranges, more like apples to sunflower seeds. Then there is the question of quality.

People are choking on the p17,000/p15,000 per year premium (depending on Visa) for a couple reasons. 1st, the current premium is p2,400/yr for everyone so it is a massive increase. 2nd, the p2,400/yr premium remains the same - except for foreigners. 3rd, the coverage (more of pre-negotiated pricing than insurance coverage) wasn't all that great to start with (but worth it at p2,400) and with increased premiums comes reduced benefits.