Tingog Party-list Rep. Jude Acidre (Facebook)

Citing the rising costs of healthcare services in the country, Tingog Party-list called on the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHeath) to increase their case rates by 20 percent. 

“Tingog Party-list sees an across the board 20 percent increase rate as a solution until a thorough case study of the case rates is completed,” Tingog Party-list Rep. Jude Acidre said in a statement on Thursday, Oct. 26. 

“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,” he said. 

This absurd amount of out-of-pocket expenses by patients will disappear with the 20 percent case rate, Acidre claimed. 

He said this would also avoid inflationary surge in prices as it align benefits with the rising costs. 

“The approach is regarded to set off a more sustainable and accessible quality healthcare system for every Filipino citizen,” the solon said. 

PhilHealth’s case rate system was introduced to ensure timely and sufficient financial support to patients, as well as to simplify the reimbursement process for healthcare providers. 

However, Acidre noted that this system has long been misaligned with the uptick of costs in healthcare services. --Dexter Barro II