Artist hails R1MC, PhilHealth

By Mortz C. Ortigoza

DAGUPAN CITY – A layout artist of a newspaper in Pangasinan lauded Region 1 Medical Center (R1MC) Director Joseph Roland Mejia and the government for their hospital’s pro poor stance.

Mayor Belen (left) and City Engineer Virginia Rosario (center) meet with Region I Medical Center Chief Dr. Joseph Roland Mejia (right) last January 13 to discuss the status of the construction of the Drug Treatment and Rehabilitation Center in Barangay Bonuan Binloc which was tentatively inaugurated last April this year. (PHOTO CREDIT: CIO)

Rod Saingan said their pro indigents’ policy on the welfare of the poor was exceptional as he did not pay a single cent for the caesarean birth last August 21 of his second child.

“Kahit singkong duling wala kaming binayaran sa bill namin sa R1MC (We did not shell out even a cent to pay our bill at R1MC) ,” he excitedly told Northern Watch.

Upon learning that he was cash strapped, R1MC’s staff, under the instruction of Mejia, accompanied him to register as member of the PhilHealth Insurance Corporation.

The night before the birth of his child, the staff of the Department of Social Welfare & Development at the R1MC processed his wife's indigency status.

After he asked for how much he owed the hospital for the service, the staff’s of Mejia told him that he did not owe a single cent.
“They even upraid me why I bought medicines worth P9 thousand for the birthing of my wife when their pharmacy had stocks for them and could be given free for him,” Saingan said.

Cisco Flores, the media liaison officer of Mejia, told this paper that Saingan was not billed because of the PhilHealth’s Point-of-Care (POC) program.

“It would be the hospital that would bring the indigent patient to the DSWD and PhilHealth to be processed and accepted,” he said.

Under the POC, the patient should pass the medical social worker’s assessment to become a Sponsored member, with R1MC shouldering the annual premium contribution of P2,400 to PhilHealth. The hospital-sponsored member (HSM) is automatically granted PhilHealth coverage starting on the first day of admission up to the end of the calendar year.

Aside from inpatient benefits, as based on the brochure given by Flores, the HSM may also avail himself of outpatient benefits except those in the Tamang Serbisyo para sa Kalusugan ng Pamilya or TSeKaP. He or She is also entitled to the No Balance Billing policy wherein he will no longer pay anything on top of his PhilHealth coverage when confined in ward accommodation in government hospitals.

Launched last November 2013, POC was initially implemented in 85 retained hospitals of the Department of Health nationwide. The scheme became an effective mechanism to cover those from the C3 to D segments of the population who are confined in the government or local government unit-owned hospitals but are either non-members or existing members but lacking qualifying contributions.

In less than a year of implementation, PhilHealth has already enrolled over 73,107 beneficiaries nationwide through the system.

To ensure continuity of health insurance coverage, PhilHealth shall provide a list of HSMs to Department of Social Welfare and Development for validation and possible inclusion in the National Household Targeting System (NHTS-PR) or Listahanan.

According to Flores those in the Listahanan are automatically given PhilHealth coverage under the Indigent Program, with their annual premium contribution being paid for by the National Government.