Balbalan town renews PhilHealth membership of sponsored members

By Peter A. Balocnit

Thursday 9th of August 2012

BALBALAN, Kalinga, Aug 9 (PIA) -- The local government of Balbalan has renewed the PhilHealth membership of its sponsored members for another two years bringing 2,885 family members covered by the health program.

According to Gerry Oribello, information officer of Balbalan LGU, 1,111 members are sponsored by the local government; 509 by the provincial government; 149 members by Congressman Manuel Agyao; and the rest by the national government under the Pantawid-National Household Targeting System (NHTS).

He said the LGU started sponsoring PhilHealth membership of some poor families since 2001.

The sponsorship of about 35 percent of the total members in Balbalan by the Department of Health was confirmed by the PhilHealth that said those identified under the NHTS are automatically enrolled as members.

Explaining why PhilHealth member exceeds the 2,313 total households in Balbalan, Oribello said that two to three family members of big households in Balbalan are PhilHealth card holders and those who turned 20 years old and senior citizens are also granted separate PhilHealth membership cards.

It was the social welfare office and the rural health unit that assessed indigent family members aged 20 and above, and those 60 years to be included as sponsored PhilHealth members.

The Office of the Local Civil Registrar was also involved in the renewal of PhilHealth card holders since one of the requirements was live birth certificates. “This is shooting two birds with one stone - one way of registering births of unregistered citizens and a chance to correct entries on live births,” Oribello said. (JDP/PAB-PIA CAR, Kalinga)