Free Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) cards were distributed simultaneously to 1,173,435 poor and indigent beneficiaries in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) and in other parts of Mindanao.
President Rodrigo Duterte who visited ARMM’s regional center led the ceremonial turnover of the PhilHealth cards to selected beneficiaries, October 2.
In 2016, the national government allocated P2.8 billion for PhilHeath cards in the ARMM alone. Other PhilHealth card recipients come from conflict-affected areas in Zamboanga Peninsula, Northern Mindanao and Central Mindanao, which are also part of the President’s Comprehensive Reform and Development Agenda (CRDA).
The distribution is under PhilHealth’s National Health Insurance Program, which was established to provide health insurance coverage and ensure affordable, acceptable, available and accessible health care services to all citizens of the Philippines.
The free PhilHealth cards, agency officials explained, covers the health insurance of the recipients for a year. The cards, they noted, are renewable.
Recipients who are identified poor families, or whose income is insufficient for family subsistence, have been identified by the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) through the National Household Targeting System for Poverty Reduction.
The PhilHealth card serves as a passport in receiving medical benefits. This socialized insurance program serves as means for the healthy to help pay for the care of the sick and for those who can afford medical care to subsidize those who cannot. (BPI/PIA-10)
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