Health insurance

[stevewool]

For those who are living over in the Philippines, have you got health insurance? If you have, what do you pay and what does that cover??

I have been looking around and the fees are out of this world - £4,900 - and that's a starter plan! I wonder if that's peso?

Anyway, can you help me out? I have heard about Phil Health, but are there others that are around say £500 a year or am I blowing in the wind?

[Michael Parnham]

For those who are living over in the Philippines, have you got health insurance? If you have, what do you pay and what does that cover??

I have been looking around and the fees are out of this world - £4,900 - and that's a starter plan! I wonder if that's peso?

Anyway, can you help me out? I have heard about Phil Health, but are there others that are around say £500 a year or am I blowing in the wind?

Phil Health is p300 per month!

[grahamw48]

Good question.

[fred]

A lot of local companies give their long term employees Medicare as well as Philhealth..
Have a look here Steve..

Individual and Family Program

INDIVIDUAL & FAMILY RATES (Plan Category)
Without AHMC, MMC, SLMC-QC and SLMC-Global City, TMC & CSMC (What does this mean?)

	WARD	SEMI PRIVATE
Limit for Dreaded Diseases	P 50,000.00	P 60,000.00
	ANNUAL	ANNUAL
Principal Member only	P 8,949	P 10,041
Principal + 1 dependent	16,223	18,190
Principal + 2 dependents	23,913	26,242
Principal + 3 dependents	31,608	34,294
Principal + 4 or MORE deps	39,301	42,350

With AHMC, MMC, SLMC-QC, TMC & CSMC; without SLMC-Global City

	SEMI PRIVATE w/o AHMC	SMALL PRIVATE
Limit for Dreaded Diseases	P 100,000.00	P 120,000.00
	ANNUAL	ANNUAL
Principal Member only	P 15,708	P 18,257
Principal + 1 dependent	28,444	33,021
Principal + 2 dependents	41,929	47,857
Principal + 3 dependents	55,409	62,692
Principal + 4 MORE deps	68,886	77,526

http://www.medicardphils.com/individ...amily-program/

[fred]

Principal + 1 dependent

28,444

33,021..

So just under 3k a month covers under 60`s for 120k worth of treatment.. I think that over 60`s are not covered for pre existing conditions..
What does the 120k cover? Hospital and doctors only or does that include medicine? No idea.

Any better deals out there?

[fred]

This is a really useful site Steve.. Lots of cheap deals..Worth considering.

http://www.thewiseliving.com/2014/10...pines-you.html

[fred]

Phil Health is p300 per month!

The Mrs was in hospital for 5 days (Private) and the bill was 26K..Philhealth paid 6K of it..
Mind you, that was in a private hospital and a private A/C room.
I think they pay out more in Gov. hospitals. Not sure.

[Terpe]

We have PhilHealth and a savings account that we add to on regular basis but don't withdraw against.
That's our medical 'insurance'.

It's easy to question whether it's sufficient and how long it will last. I have no idea. We took the decision to relocate here and that's what we did.

We're in a much better position than the vast majority of people here. That all I can say.

[stevewool]

Thanks Fred, I will look into what you have said here.

Peter, what you have done for yourselves is what i was thinking of doing, having a large sum of just in case, I think is a good way of doing things.

There are people who think I am nuts not having any medical insurance but each to their own, I say. I don't mind paying something for the just in case, but I hate being ripped off for something that maybe you may never use.

Thanks boys for some good advice.

[imagine]

I think the Phil Health is ok, and worth having. Covers 3 nights in hospital room, some treatments, but meds to pay, plus extra if a private room. As Lolita is a teacher, she is covered. It also covers me as her husband, and her mama and papa, too.

I thought over 60s couldn't get insurance with them, but Lolita's covers me at 61, and her mama 'n' papa are much older.

[fred]

I thought over 60s couldn't get insurance with them, but Lolita's covers me at 61, and her mama 'n' papa are much older.

Pretty sure Philhealth is now free for over 60`s! (Filipino`s)

[stevewool]

So after 60, us English folk are at the mercy of our credit card?

[jake]

We have private health insurance and several pension/life insurance policies that will pay certain benefits if any of us are hospitalized. They don’t cost us 5,000 quid a year, however they won’t cough up millions of pesos that may be needed for a major heart surgery at St Lukes.

The company we use for private health insurance is Caritas Health Shield. It’s not family insurance, so each one of us has to have their own separate policy. We payed around 50,000php each per annum over a 5 year period. The insurance is then valid for a period of 15 years starting from the date of the first payment. Make sense?
Without going through the whole policy Im not really sure exactly how much we could claim at one time, as insurance policies always have lots of small print! The thing I like about it is, even if you have no medical problems that year your are entitled to free outpatient services, annual physical examination and dental care.

Here’s their website http://www.caritashealthshield.com.ph/

Steve, I don’t know what age restrictions, if any they have but I will put you in touch with someone at Caritas when you want to inquire.
As others have said, keep a nice wedge tucked away somewhere just in case

[jake]

Good question.

Graham, I have just read your post about coming to live in the Philippines again

Even if you and Mercedes are not married, you can still apply for Philheath for yourself. Well worth it in my opinion.

[jake]

The Mrs was in hospital for 5 days (Private) and the bill was 26K..Philhealth paid 6K of it..
Mind you, that was in a private hospital and a private A/C room.
I think they pay out more in Gov. hospitals. Not sure.

Like you Fred, i haven't got a clue how they work out the percentage Philhealth will pay. It seems to vary from around 20 to 80% without rhyme or reason.

We used Philhealth recently for a 48k bill and they paid 24k. This was in a private hospital, in private room with air con. Due to certain circumstances we didn't use any of our private insurances.
When I went to pay the bill i was surprised at the amount. In true Filipino style they asked for for the receipt of the payment to Philhealth. Of course stupid me never thought of bringing it Anyway, I paid the 48k and went back the next day and they gave me back 24k in cash!

For 2,400 pesos a year any foreigner living here would be daft not to bother signing up.

[stevewool]

All good advice Jake

[grahamw48]

Yes, thanks for all that useful info Jake.