...Is philhealth worth it?

Hi, I do have a Philhealth number but I have stopped my premium when it was doubled. I don't know, maybe they are just trying to make some money out of it or their motive to help the common man is sincere. In other countries (here we go again), health insurance is free whether one is rich or poor.

Well if you are employed you are obliged to pay for this via salary deduction. You won't need to apply for yourself since your employer will take charge of it. If you are not that sickly, you won't feel the benefit of this insurance at all. But if you happen to be hospitalized then that is the time you will feel the benefit of this one. So I guess it would be handy that you have insurance like this one while you are working and healthy.

i guess in any case, insurance like this philippine health insurance is not being felt, its importance i mean, when it's not used. although most people would say, better prepared than feel sorry and hope it won't be used but at least. i have been a member for almost ten years since i started working in the goverment. i have used the insurance with the operation of my son in manila last december 2010,. and lately, his two elder siblings caught dengue and were both confined for three days in the hospital. unfortunately, they both suffered dengue fever at the same time. although we spent about 4 to five thousand pesos for our daily expenses, medicines both before they were confined or those not available in the hospital pharmacy, food and transportation, we are fortunate that philhealth shouldered all the bills in the hospital. philhealth has its something called "case rates" where members will immediately know how much subsidy they can get from PhilHealth for certain medical conditions and surgical procedures in accredited institutional health care facilities. At the same time, using this mechanism will improve the turnaround time for claims processing as it is simpler and easier to administer. PhilHealth will be able to reimburse accredited providers faster. It also means less administrative cost to PhilHealth and to the accredited healthcare facilities. in our case, dengue fever stage 1 and 2 are at 8,000 pesos maximum. since we didn't reached the said amount, philhealth will only pay the said hospital that amount while we, the member/patient, discharged from the hospital without paying cash. well, even if we did not reached the maximum, say we're only billed at 4 or 5 thousand, i cannot imagine how difficult for me to look for 10 thousand pesos for the two kids?

i don;t know if i'm just weird or what, but what i understand about being a member of philhealth is ignoring your own health and let the professional handle it, how can a member benefit from philhealth if he/she is healthy, of course non of the member want to confine in a hospital just to have the benefit or use of their membership, this is the very reason why i don't want to be a member of philhealth, for me it's like hoping for something bad to happen to our health first and then thhadaa!!! finally i can use my membership...