PRESIDENT Ferdinand Marcos Jr. yesterday urged Filipinos to go to hospitals and get a medical checkup or treatment, assuring them the “zero-billing hospital” policy is in place and proceeding well.
The President, during his visit to the East Avenue Medical Center (EAMC) in Quezon City, also asked the public to “spread the word” that they no longer have to pay a single centavo if they get checked or treated in government hospitals.
After launching the “zero balance billing” (ZBB) program in all hospitals of the Department of Health (DOH), Secretary Teodoro Herbosa is now looking at expanding it to private medical institutions.
In an interview with Radio Television Malacanang (RTVM), Herbosa bared plans to tap private hospitals as implementing arms of the ZBB program.
“This program will be expanded. The next plan is to coordinate with nearby private hospitals,” said Herbosa.
“Those who will agree, we will take the (patient) overflow there so that everyone can be served,” he added.
The health chief said he believes that the expansion is feasible as private hospitals are mandated to allocate 10 percent of their bed capacity to charity patients.
“The agreement will likely have the DOH paying what’s left in the bill after the PhilHealth (Philippine Health Insurance Corporation) benefit is deducted,” said Herbosa.
During his State of the Nation Address (SONA) last month, President Bongbong Marcos Jr announced the full implementation of the zero balance billing program in all DOH hospitals nationwide.
The program will have PhilHealth and DOH covering hospital bills, professional fees, laboratory tests, operating room services, and medicines, provided that the patients stay in the basic ward of the facility.
“So, I’m happy to be able to report that the zero-billing program is proceeding well,” Marcos told the media yesterday, adding that he wanted to see if the program is implemented smoothly as well as check on the services rendered by the healthcare workers in the government facility.
He said an information drive also had to be conducted, not just to orient and inform those in the government hospitals on what to do and ensure its implementation, but also the patients and their families who should benefit from the program.
The ZBB program has resulted in long queues as some patients and hospital staff were reportedly confused by the process.
“It’s very important not to rely on a fixer. There is no need for a fixer. Feel free to ask our billing and admitting sections,” said Herbosa.
“Don’t talk to the fixers. They might even be scammers and will just take away your money,” said Herbosa.
Last week, the DOH already issued a warning against scam messages, which involve them clicking a suspicious link, supposedly related to the ZBB program.
“There is no link being sent by the DOH or any of its hospitals to the public, so do not click on suspicious links in scam messages,” said the DOH.
DOH Assistant Secretary and spokesman Albert Domingo said there are 83 public hospitals under the health department and four government-owned or controlled corporation (GOCC) hospitals that implement the zero-hospital billing policy under the “Bayad na Bill Mo” program.
The President visited the Eastern Visayas Medical Center (EVMC) in Tacloban City on Monday to personally check the implementation of the program and ensure that any issues that would arise would be addressed.
Herbosa said more than 12,000 patients from the EVMC and more than 2,000 from the EAMC have been provided the free hospitalization package in government hospitals or zero billing since Marcos’ fourth state of the nation address (SONA) in July.
The EAMC, in a statement, said that as of August 15, there were 18,818 patients who had been covered by the zero-billing program under PhilHealth in their institution and of which, “100 percent were discharged with zero balance billing.”
This translates to P1.7 billion worth of hospital bills.
Herbosa said more than 12,000 patients from the EVMC and more than 2,000 from the EAMC have been provided the free hospitalization package in government hospitals or zero billing.
During the visit, Marcos also thanked healthcare workers, especially at the EAMC, for their services even beyond their working hours.
He also thanked them for taking care of him when he contracted the coronavirus disease during the pandemic.
“I was one of the beneficiaries. If not for you, I would not be here. I would have been taken by COVID,” he said.
