The Commission on Higher Education (CHED) has partnered with the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) to give top priority to access to healthcare for approximately 500,000 poor students in state universities and colleges' (SUCs) and their families.
The memorandum of understanding (MOU), which CHED Chairperson Prospero De Vera III and PhilHealth President Edwin Mercado signed last Thursday, seeks to link PhilHealth benefits with CHED's Tertiary Education Subsidy (TES) and Tulong Dunong Program (TDP), both run through the Unified Student Financial Assistance System for Tertiary Education (UniFAST).
The partnership seeks to help TES and TDP grantees, the majority of whom are from poor families included in the Department of Social Welfare and Development's (DSWD) 'Listahanan'.
"We embrace this partnership with PhilHealth in helping cater to the health needs of disadvantaged Filipinos, which is a priority under the Marcos regime", De Vera stated in a press release Friday.
De Vera highlighted the sheer size of public higher education, adding SUCs comprise half of the nation's higher education enrollment - more than two million students in over 200 institutions.
Mercado explained that the project is aligned with President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr.'s call to scale up PhilHealth services, especially primary care through the Konsultasyong Sulit at Tama (Konsulta) program.
This deal with CHED and UP Manila will speed up the enrollment of students and their families into PhilHealth and provide them with the proper access to basic health care", he added.
The Konsulta Package covers outpatient benefits such as consultations, health check-ups, lab tests, and medications. The SUC health centers, under the partnership, will be assessed and accredited as Konsulta providers to facilitate the delivery of the services.
UP Manila, a principal technical collaborator in the deal, will assist SUCs in achieving PhilHealth accreditation levels.
Moreover, the partnership seeks to streamline the process of claims and enable the effective utilization of Konsulta funds via educational institutions and local government units.
