Inclusion of poor children in the NHIP pushed

Wednesday, 27 April 2011 10:38

A lawmaker is seeking the inclusion of children especially those from poor families in the coverage of the National Health Insurance Program (NHIP).

Rep. Diosdado M. Arroyo (2nd District, Camarines Sur) filed House Bill 4339 increasing and expanding the coverage of the NHIP, amending for the purpose Republic Act No. 7875 also known as the National Health Insurance Act of 1995, as amended by Republic Act 9241.

Arroyo filed the bill, co-authored by Reps. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo (2nd District, Pampanga) and Erico Aumentado (2nd District, Bohol), as he noted the constitutional mandate for the State to acknowledge the vital role of the youth in nation building by promoting and protecting their physical, spiritual, intellectual and social well being.

Citing a report by a United States-based charity, Arroyo said more than 200 million children worldwide do not get basic health care, leading to nearly 10 million deaths of children under of 5 years old every year from treatable ailments like diarrhea and pneumonia.

In the Philippines, as stated in a United Nations Children's Economic Fund (UNICEF) study, Arroyo said roughly 2.4 million Filipino children aged 0-5 years old are underweight and 26.3 percent are stunted.

The study also showed that 23 out of 1,000 children die before reaching the age of one, 28 out of 1,000 children die before reaching the age of five and only seven out of 10 infants are immunized, Arroyo explained.

Likewise, the 2006 UNDP Human Development Report revealed 19% of the total population of children is undernourished, Arroyo added. "All of these are critical issues that seek immediate solutions to improve children's health care," Arroyo stressed.

Arroyo pushed for the immediate passage of the bill to address the problem. "The proposed children's health insurance program seeks to benefit around 14 million Filipino children by providing eligible children with a wide range of health care services like regular check-ups, immunizations, prescription drugs, laboratory tests and hospital or clinic visits," Arroyo said.

HB 4339 defines child health assistance as a range of health care and support services, to include but not limited to physician services and any other medical, diagnostic, screening, preventive, restorative, remedial, therapeutic or rehabilitative services.

It also defines a qualified child member as any child of a low-income family under six years of age or over but are unable to fully take care of themselves or protect themselves from abuse, neglect, cruelty, exploitation or discrimination because of a physical, mental disability or condition and whose family is below the poverty line as determined by a proper government agency.

Moreover, it describes a member as any person whose premiums have been regularly paid to the NHIP. He may be a paying member, an indigent member, a qualified child member or a pensioner/retiree member.

Arroyo said HB 4339 shall initiate and expand the provision of child health assistance to include a child health insurance program for those uninsured, low income children in an effective and efficient manner that is coordinated with other sources of health benefits coverage for children.

Under the bill, all indigents and qualified child member not enrolled in the program shall have priority in the use and availment of the services and facilities of government hospitals, health care personnel and other health care organizations provided that such government health care providers shall ensure that the indigents and qualified child members shall subsequently be enrolled in the program.

The enrolled indigents and qualified children of low income families need not pay the monthly contributions to be entitled to the program's benefits, the bill provides.

The bill allocates an initial amount of P30 million for the first year of its implementation as payment for children beneficiaries' contribution. Thereafter, the contributions for qualified children beneficiaries shall be subsidized partially by the local government unit where the member resides.

The Board of Directors of the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PHIC) shall provide financing equal to the LGUs subsidy for children. The share of the LGUs shall be progressively increased until such time that their share is equal to that of the national government.

The PHIC Board of Directors shall formulate the rules and regulations for the Act's implementation.