Manila, Philippines – Before 2024 ends, the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) is eyeing to expand its benefits and packages aiming to also cover rare diseases and mobility devices.
Through this healthcare packages, PhilHealth aims to reduce financial burden of patients without compromising the services they can avail.
Under PhilHealth’s “Z-Benefits Package for Rare Diseases,” ten rare genetic diseases will now be covered in their healthcare packages, with case rates ranging from P99,000 to P739,000.
The diseases included in the Z-Benefits Package are Maple Syrup Urine Disease, Methylmalonic Acidemia/Propionic Acidemia, Galactosemia, Phenylketonuria, Gaucher Disease, Pompe Disease, Fabry Disease, MPS II (Hunter Syndrome), MPS IV (Morquio Syndrome), and Osteogenesis Imperfecta.
These diseases were previously covered under PhilHealth’s inpatient case rate, but under Z benefits, the packages rose to over 1000% compared to the old rates.
PhilHealth noted that these expanded healthcare packages and benefits aims to improve healthcare through improved financing.
Aside from the the rare diseases package, Philhealth also introduced its outpatient Konsulta package that will cover rehabilitation services and various types of assistive mobility devices. This includes wheelchairs, walkers, rollators, quad canes, and crutch triceps.
Finalization of the policies and issuance of guidelines regarding these new benefit packages is expected to be finished before year-end.