The Philippine Health Insurance Corp. on Friday urged more hospitals to offer its expanded benefits package for breast cancer.

“Let me appeal to all capable healthcare facilities in the country to apply and be contracted for this package so we can provide the needed services of our fellow countrymen and make its benefits more accessible,” PhilHealth president Emmanuel Ledesma Jr. said.

Currently, there are only 21 PhilHealth-contracted facilities in over 1,400 municipalities nationwide that offer the benefits package called the Z Benefits Package for Breast Cancer.

The state-owned insurer in February increased the package benefits from P100,000 to P1.4 million, up by 1,400 percent.

Asked why only a few facilities applied for the package, Ledesma said most hospitals deemed its previous benefits amount as inconsequential.

“Because of the little benefits coverage in the past, hospitals thought it was not worth the trouble of processing the benefits package,” he explained.

The package also now provides full treatment for breast cancer, including more types of therapy besides chemotherapy. These are hormonotherapy and targeted therapy.

Apart from diagnostics and surgery, the enhanced package now also covers financial aid for monitoring of the illness after surgery.

“They can still avail of the package for the surveillance part. It has no expiry as there’s a possibility that the cancer will recur,” Merla Rose Reyes, PhilHealth’s head for benefits development, said.

The maximum P1.4 million aid covers one cycle of treatment, starting from diagnostics to surveillance. It also covers all stages of cancer from stage 0 to 4.

Citing a study by the Philippine Institute for Development Studies, Ledesma said hospitals register 27,000 new cases of breast cancer each year.

Through the Konsulta Package, Reyes said PhilHealth members can also obtain ultrasound and mammograms under its primary care program.