PhilHealth, DOH, DSWD Renew Ties for Social Protection

Two years after the initial Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) was signed, the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth), Department of Health (DOH) and Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) recently renewed their partnership for the Social Protection Support Initiatives (SPSI) that will benefit Filipino citizens, especially the poor, the vulnerable and the disadvantaged groups.

Ramon F. Aristoza Jr., Acting PhilHealth President and CEO said that “gone are the days when the local government units worry about the health care of their constituents.” He narrated that in 2014, P35 billion was allocated from the incremental revenues from sin taxes for the premium of families listed in the National Household Targeting System for Poverty Reduction. In 2017, he said, the House of Representatives has approved a total of P52.2 billion allocation for the health care program of the National Government under the Philippine Health Agenda.

Under the agreement, PhilHealth developed the Sigurado at Garantisadong Insurance Pangkalusugan (SAGIP) Project which aims to proactively enable its members to pay and sustain their health insurance coverage with help provided by social service agencies, along with the DOH’s Watching over Mothers and Babies (WOMB) Project and DSWD’s Sustaining Interventions in Poverty Alleviation and Governance (SIPAG) Project.

DSWD Secretary Judy Taguiwalo said that “the direction of the new administration is to improve the collaboration of all agencies, including local government to deliver the exact and actual needs of our poor citizens.”

The convergence of the pilot project aims to create an integrated e-referral system across SIPAG of DSWD, WOMB of DOH and SAGIP of PhilHealth to institutionalize cross-agency data sharing and standards that will enable more improved means of ensuring that the basic social protection services are received by poor and marginalized client-beneficiaries. (PhilHealth)