Health Finder
This website aims to be an informative hub for Filipinos to learn more about potential health insurance premium programs in order to increase both financial stability and healthcare accessibility. It does so through a variety of tools: from quizzes that can help you find the right insurance plan to steps on availing financial aid for health insurance premiums.
What is Health Insurance?
How Does It Work?
Health insurance is a means of guaranteeing financial protection when receiving medical treatment.
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Health insurance providers pool together the funds and resources of large groups of individuals, which they then use to reduce the burden of potentially financially debilitating medical expenses for each individual in cases of illness, accidents, and disability.
Why Health Insurance?
The Department of Health (DOH) has identified that healthcare expenses from medicine to hospital bills are posing a large threat to Filipinos, leading many families to debt.
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The Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) has reported that, on average, Filipinos spent about 10,000 PHP annually on health-related goods and services in 2021, spending 17% more than the reported average of 8411.52 PHP in 2020.
Rising Medical Costs
An average night’s stay at a private hospital already costs 2,500 PHP, and what’s more is that a night stay at the ICU could cost Filipinos 30,000 PHP. This has yet to include other relevant expenses such as doctors’ fees, lab fees, and medicine that each amount to substantial expenses. Thus, with the looming threat of rising medical costs due to higher operating expenses, the cost of healthcare in the Philippines is becoming less and less accessible to the average Filipino.
Universal Health Care Act
In 2019, the “Universal Health Care Act” was implemented, which guaranteed all Filipinos free health insurance coverage through PhilHealth. Expenses are covered by government subsidies and company payroll deductions that take up 5% of an employee’s monthly income for those in the formal economy. Through this, individuals that are incapable of paying the health premium, such as indigents, senior citizens, or persons with disability, are all still eligible to avail PhilHealth services.
Insufficient Coverage
However, despite all these changes, it still isn’t enough in making healthcare affordable to all Filipinos. While PhilHealth does subsidize emergency and urgent care, in-patient health care, and non-emergency surgeries, its coverage is still limited, failing to account for all medical treatments and costs. In fact, the Philippine Institute for Development Studies (PIDS) found that PhilHealth, on average, only provides a support value of 55.83% (i.e. on average, PhilHealth only shoulders 55.83% of hospital care costs). However, this support value is lower at only 40% for the elderly, women, those living in rural areas, and poor Filipinos.
Hence, while enrolling in PhilHealth is better than not having any form of health insurance, it’s not enough. There’s still a need to enroll into other health premium programs to increase financial stability in cases of medical emergencies.