PhilHealth boosts kidney transplant coverage

PhilHealth is raising its coverage for kidney transplants by 230 percent — from ₱600,000 to ₱2 million — in line with President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s directive to ease the financial burden on patients.

In a statement Sunday, the Presidential Communications Office said the increased kidney transplant coverage comes on top of other PhilHealth benefit upgrades, including the expansion of hemodialysis sessions from 90 to 156 per year to help reduce out-of-pocket expenses for Filipinos with stage 5 chronic kidney disease (CKD).

President Marcos’ administration has significantly expanded the health benefit packages through PhilHealth, marking one of the most proactive efforts to enhance public healthcare coverage.

The President’s mandate stated that PhilHealth has enhanced the benefits for members with CKD stage 5.

These improvements include increased maximum number of hemodialysis sessions from 90 to 156 a year, which is equivalent to P990,600 under the new rate of P6,350 from the previous P4,000 per dialysis session; increased coverage for peritoneal dialysis up to P1.2 million; and increased coverage for kidney transplantation from P600,000 to P2 million under the Z benefits package.

This is the first time PhilHealth has increased the Z benefits package, which covers catastrophic illnesses and health conditions such as cancer that require expensive treatments and hospitalizations, for kidney transplant procedures since the launch of the package in 2012.

Under President Marcos’ administration, Filipinos with serious healthcare needs can now avail themselves of PhilHealth’s new and expanded benefits packages.

PhilHealth has also rolled out enhanced benefit packages for ischemic heart disease or acute myocardial infarction, covering procedures related to heart attack treatment, along with an outpatient emergency care benefit that offers comprehensive coverage for emergency services.

PhilHealth also introduced the 50-percent adjustment in case rates, which applies to almost 9,000 benefit packages for all admissions starting 1 January.