CITY OF SAN FERNANDO – Pampanga and Bulacan are top in the number of enrolled beneficiaries of the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) among Central Luzon provinces, but officials stressed that all Filipinos should avail themselves of the affordable health care insurance program.
Region III-A Branch Manager Arsenia Torres said President Aquino and PhilHealth Chief Executive Officer Eduardo Banzon had repeatedly stressed that the 102 million Filipinos should be covered by the government’s National Health Insurance Program (NHIP).
In the latest PhilHealth data bulletin, 28.5 million are registered members and 79.44 million are enrolled beneficiaries, or about 80 percent of the country’s total population. The members whose children are aged 20 years and below are covered by the health insurance.
Bulacan has 813,382 PhilHealth members as of December, while Pampanga has 736, 484. The other provinces and their respective number of PhilHealth members are: Tarlac, 416, 852; Bataan, 244, 427; Zambales, 233, 501; Aurora, 51,735; Nueva Ecija, 423,474.
Earlier, The Department of Health (DOH) said there are some 4.8 million non-PhilHealth members who actually have the means to sign up with the agency on their own.
“They can afford the premium but they are not yet enrolled. They have to understand that once they register themselves, even their families will be covered by PhilHealth,” the DOH said in a statement.
The DOH said that 4.8 million individuals mostly belong to the informal sector that includes drivers, house helpers, farmers, fishermen and vendors, among other self-employed persons.
In Angeles City, Mayor Edgardo Pamintuan shoulder the annual payments for the some 8,000 PhilHealth members as part of his health care program, said Torres.
“I met Mayor Pamintuan last week and he told us that he will double the number of PhilHealth members sponsored by the city government,” Torres said.
In the City of San Fernando, there are reportedly at least 17,000 PhilHealth members sponsored by city government.
Torres said that members of the Pampanga Mayor’s League (PML) support Gov. Lilia Pineda’s health care program, allowing more residents to avail themselves of the PhilHealth program.
