DOH-PhilHealth targets 55,300 new members in East Visayas

By Philippine Information Agency (PIA 8)
September 28, 2010

TACLOBAN CITY  –  The Department of Health and PhilHealth is targeting the registration of 55,300 new members regionwide especially the poor and the marginalized, DOH Region 8 Director Edgardo Gonzaga informed.

Director Gonzaga is referring to the October 2 nationwide massive PhilHealth registration which will be conducted in response to President Benigno Aquino III's marching orders to attain universal PhilHealth coverage in three years.

The Department of Health (DOH) and the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PHIC) in coordination with the Department of Education, the Department of Social Welfare and Development and the Department of Interior and Local Government in the Region, will conduct the massive registration by setting up PhilHealth desks in public schools, municipal halls, all Philhealth offices and all DOH-retained hospitals region wide.

Among the PhilHealth registration sites are two in Baybay, Leyte; one at the fifth class municipality of Sta. Fe, also in Leyte; one at the Tacloban Convention Center and another at Robinsons Place Tacloban.

The regional health chief heads the task force, which is composed of the DOH, the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG), the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) and the Department of Education (DepEd).

The DILG will help the DOH engage local chief executives in the enrolment of indigents in their respective jurisdictions as identified by the DSWD while DepEd will help create PhilHealth desks in all public schools to encourage students and their parents to register and become PhilHealth members.

The activity aims to enroll the remaining Filipino citizens who are at least 21 years of age and non-members of the program. It is also open to 18 to 20 year olds who may need to register; existing contributors who are still unregistered; those not issued their PhilHealth Number Card or Family Health Card yet; and those already registered but who may want to update their membership profile with PhilHealth.

The program mainly targets those from the self-employed and informal sector who comprise some 53 percent of the population and of which a substantial portion can afford to pay for health insurance as individually paying members (IPMs).