TINGOG Partylist Rep. Jude A. Acidre on Thursday, Oct. 26, called on the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation or Philhealth to increase their case rates across the board by 20%.
Rep. Acidre stated that Philhealth’s case rate system was introduced to simplify the reimbursement process for healthcare providers and ensure timely and sufficient financial support to patients.
However, according to Rep. Acidre, it has been noted that the case rates have been continuously misaligned with the rising costs of healthcare services in the country.
The practice of “pay whichever is lower” in the current case rate system puts the patients in additional financial burden as this often force them to pay a large portion of the hospital bills even after availing their Philhealth benefits.
Tingog Partylist sees an across the board 20% increase rate as a solution until a thorough case study of the case rates is completed. This aims to eradicate the out-of-pocket expenses of patients and align benefits with the rising costs of healthcare services avoiding to trigger to inflationary surge in prices.
In addition, the proposed solution opens quality healthcare access for all which calls for partnership among Philhealth, healthcare providers and other medical facilities. The call for price stability commitments from healthcare providers and facilities aims to maintain market stability.
Rep. Acidre added that the approach is regarded to set off a more sustainable and accessible quality healthcare system for every Filipino citizen.
