Sincerely, health care should always be the topmost priority of a people. This is because, as it is rightfully said, a healthy person is one who remembers to work.

Again, a country that thrives in everything is a country that takes its people’s health care seriously. The government of the Philippines got to understand these sayings and set up a health care system for its people.

We believe that part of what prompted the upgrading of the health insurance system in the Philippines came as a result of having so many visitors in the Philippines.

Overview of health insurance in the Philippines

For people to come into the Philippines and live, they want to make sure their health can be covered. So, health care insurance in the Philippines has some level of good standard to it now.

As such, the World Health Organization (WHO) ranked the health care system in Philippines 60th in the whole world.

It still did not stop there, the government of the Philippines keeps making the health care system better each passing year.

For better understanding, it is very important we explain health care insurance in simpler terms. Firstly, health insurance is a type of contract that pays for the hospital bills and drugs of an individual in full or in part. It is either the insurance company pay the hospital bills themselves or give out cash to their clients to pay.

More so, health insurance also covers prescription drugs, doctor’s visits, vision, and dental expenses.

This means that once an individual who has health insurance gets sick or any kind of health emergency, the health insurance company that they use helps cover their medical bills. However, the coverage has to do with the plan the insured bought.

Types of health insurance in Philippines

Firstly, in the Philippines, there are three types of health care insurance systems available to Filipinos.

The government-run health insurance system has been made very affordable to Filipinos. The private health insurance companies, and the Health Maintenance Organizations (HMOs). Of course, you can choose from either of them because the end goal is to get your health and your family insured.

However, private health insurance companies have their perks and all but they can be quite expensive for low-income earners to access. Also, HMOs have people it serves better. So, instead of going without having your health insured, it is better you check out the three and go with the one that suits your need.

Again, the expatriates in the country have a plan called the evacuation plan. This plan is also offered by private health insurance companies.

Government health care insurance in Philippines

Government health insurance in Philippines has been made available for all citizens. It was done in a bid to curb the unnecessary diseases and illnesses that come with a lack of proper health care in the country.

In 2019, the Filipino government set up a health care system called the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation, PhilHealth for short.

The program provides an affordable health care system for the citizens that can not afford the private and expensive health insurance companies. The beauty of PhilHealth is that it does not collect deductibles or allow co-pays for the users.

Furthermore, the PhilHealth program is funded by the government and provides various health plans for the people that are enrolled in it.

These programs have different plans for different sets of people according to your age or income like:

Lifetime Members plan: This plan is for the old and retired government workers who are from sixty years and above.

This set of people has paid the slated amount for health care regularly for a long period of time. Therefore, they are placed on a totally free health care insurance plan.

Formal sector plan: The government automatically provides a coverage plan for the government workers In the Philippines.

Senior Citizen plan: The senior citizen plan covers the old Filipinos that have never bought a coverage plan before. That is, an elderly Filipino that is sixty and above but did not previously insure falls into this plan.

Informal Economy plan: The plan is for immigrants that are working in the Philippines, and also the self-employed. However, this plan does not cover tourists in the country.

Sponsored members plan: Some local governments in the states subsidize some of these health care plans to accommodate their people. The sponsored member’s plan is for those people that their local governments subsidize.

It is important to note that, if you are not a citizen of the Philippines, you are not entitled to any government health insurance coverage. Also, if you are married to a citizen, you will be covered as a dependent.

As it stands, there are benefits that come with government health care insurance. Aside from being very affordable to the poor and retired citizen, the extra benefits include:

• Maternity care
• Laboratory tests
• Out and Inpatients services
• Surgeries
• Catastrophic services