Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth), the country's state insurer, has teamed up with 13 health maintenance organisations (HMOs) and private insurers to coordinate coverage for members who hold both public and private health plans.
Philippine media GMA News reported that the initiative places PhilHealth’s Yaman ng Kalusugan Program (YAKAP) as the initial layer of coverage for primary care, with participating private health providers taking on eligible expenses beyond the government programme’s coverage limits.
Under the agreement, private insurers and HMOs will provide supplementary benefits for services and costs not covered under YAKAP or those exceeding PhilHealth’s limits. These include specialised procedures, branded medicines and hospital room upgrades. YAKAP covers primary care consultations, 13 laboratory tests, selected outpatient medicines through the GAMOT package and six cancer screening services, alongside certain outpatient services including animal bite treatment, maternal care, tuberculosis treatment, HIV/AIDS management and mental health services.
The participating providers are Asalus Corp. (Intellicare), Avega Managed Care Inc., Cooperative Health Management Federation, Health Plan Philippines Inc., inLife Benefits Insurance Company Inc., Insular Health Care Inc. (iCare), Maxicare Healthcare Corp., Manufacturers Life Insurance Co. (Phils.), Medicard Philippines Inc., Medicare Plus Inc., Pacific Cross Health Care Inc., PhilhealthCare Inc. and United Coconut Planters Life Assurance Corp.