PhilHealth Coverage to Expand Next Year, Marcos Jr. Announces

Philippine President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. on Monday said that blood tests and medicines included under the Philippine Health Insurance Corp.’s Yaman ng Kalusugan Program (PhilHealth YAKAP) will be expanded by next year in a bid to improve Filipinos’ preventive healthcare. “Sa susunod na taon, unti-unti natin isasama ang iba’t ibang uring blood test at gamot upang mas maagang matukoy at mabantayan ang posibleng sakit sa bato, atay, thyroid at Hepatitis B [Next year, we will gradually include various blood tests and medicine to help early detect and monitor possible diseases on kidney, liver, thyroid, and Hepatitis B,],” Mr. Marcos said in his fifth State of the Nation Address (SONA). The statement came after the President shared the number of people who have benefited from the program. Mr. Marcos said that of the 25 million people registered under the YAKAP program — PhilHealth’s enhanced primary care benefits package — around 4.5 million have made appointments under the program across 2,000 partner healthcare providers. “Hangad natin na mas maraming klinika pa ang makakakasapi sa YAKAP upang mas marami pa ang pagpipilian ng ating mamamayan [We hope that more clinics would get contracted for YAKAP, so Filipinos could have more options,” Mr. Marcos said. As for PhilHealth’s Guaranteed and Accessible Medications for Outpatient Treatment (GAMOT) program, more than 300,000 Filipinos have benefited from the program since January. The program provides registered YAKAP members and their dependents with up to P20,000 worth of free essential outpatient medicines per year. More than 2,000 medicines have also been exempted from value-added tax (VAT), Mr. Marcos said. Around 700 of these are for cancer, 500 are for high blood pressure, and 600 are for diabetes and mental health-related medicines. “Sa buwis na ito ng ating tinanggal, ang side effect dyan ay mas mababang presyo nito sa botika [With the tax we removed, its side effects is much lower price in the pharmacies,” he said. The president also said that check-ups and therapy sessions for children with developmental disabilities will be increased from 90 to 150 therapy sessions and will be covered by PhilHealth. The health insurer is expected to expand its coverage for catastrophic diseases such as cancer, heart disease, Human Immunodeficiency Virus-AIDS, and tuberculosis, Mr. Marcos said. As of 2025, the number of Filipinos using PhilHealth has reached more than 7.5 million families, up from 5 million families in 2022, which Mr. Marcos attributed to improvements in the insurance program and faster payments to healthcare providers. Mr. Marcos also said that more than 3 million Filipinos have already benefited from the Department of Health’s zero-balance billing program for hospital wards. — Edg Adrian A. Eva