PRESIDENT Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on Thursday launched the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation’s (PhilHealth) new benefits package for adult and pediatric post-kidney transplant patients who suffer from chronic kidney disease (CKD).
Marcos said that the kidney transplant package has now been raised to P2.1 million from P600,000 in 2024.
The President, during his visit to patients at the National Kidney Transplant Institute (NKTI) in Diliman, Quezon City, said the expanded package aims to “lessen the financial burden on patients and their families, improve long-term health outcomes, and advance equitable access to quality healthcare in line with the goals of Universal Health Care.”
The President also directed the Department of Health (DOH) to come up with a strong program aimed at preventing CKD, especially among kids. In 2023 there were 144 kids with CKD. This number rose to 301 in 2024.
Health Secretary Teodoro Herbosa said many of the CKD cases were due to diabetes and hypertension.
PhilHealth introduced the Z Benefits package, which covers medically and economically catastrophic conditions, including low-risk kidney transplantation for patients with CKD stage 5, including pre-transplant services, organ harvesting from a living donor, and the transplant procedure.
Under the expanded benefits package, the post-kidney transplantation patients are entitled to increased hemodialysis sessions from 90 to 156 annually, at a cost of P6,350 per session annually; a kidney transplantation package of P1.045 million for those with a living organ donor and P2.146 million for those with a deceased organ donor.
Pediatric kidney patients, meanwhile, will also receive P73,065 per month for immunosuppressive medications for the first year and P41,150 per month for the succeeding years up to P45,570 per month for drug prophylaxis or antibiotic to prevent infections; and P37,585 for every three months of laboratory services for the first year and P14,078 for every three months for the succeeding years.
Adult kidney patients are entitled to P40,725 per month for immunosuppressive medications; P18,932 for six months of treatment; and P11,242 for every three months of laboratory services for the first year and P8,125 for every three months for the succeeding years.
PhilHealth has paid P592 million worth of claims to the NKTI from Jan. 1 to May 21 this year, which include P161 million for hemodialysis claims.
In only the first five months of 2025, the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth) has managed to increase its benefit claims payment to accredited health facilities by 84 percent.
Data provided by PhilHealth showed that it has paid a total of P118.87 billion benefit claims as of May 31, 2025.
The number is 84 percent higher compared to the P64.6 billion benefit claims payment during the same period in 2024.
Of the paid claims in 2025, a total of P69.6 billion were paid to private medical facilities.
On the other hand, PhilHealth has paid P49.27 billion to government hospitals and health facilities.
In an earlier statement, PhilHealth President and CEO Dr. Edwin Mercado said the state-run health insurer is determined to implement faster claims processing and payment.
“We are out to make sure that we will immediately be able to pay the benefit claims,” said Mercado.
He said this is because they want to ensure an uninterrupted delivery of services for all PhilHealth members.
“PhilHealth is making sure every Filipino is getting the most of their health insurance coverage,” said Mercado.
In the past, PhilHealth has been heavily criticized over their delayed payments of benefit claims of hospitals.
PBBM urges parents to train kids to eat properly
During his visit to the NKTI, Marcos also urged parents to train children in proper diet at an early age to avoid serious illnesses later in life as well as for the food industry to prepare healthy meals, particularly with reduced sugar content.
The President emphasized the importance of introducing Filipinos to nutritious eating habits at a young age as a long-term solution to reducing the incidence of lifestyle diseases.
