Types of Health Insurance

Written by imoney

In our recent article we have defined what a health insurance is and what are the benefits included in getting one. The Philippines although it has really selection of doctors and hospitals still lag behind in having the population avail of health insurances but efforts in making health care affordable for the masses is getting recognition.

You may be thinking of getting yourself insured here are the types of health insurance available in the Philippines:

Philhealth

PhilHealth, the health insurance is a collaboration of both the insured and its employer, both contribute 50-50 percent to the fund but for the self-employed it is not. Philhealth is mandatory and every Filipino who is working contributes monthly to this.  As a quick guide here is a table pertaining to monthly contributions a Pinoy should contribute to his or Philhealth. (As of January 2013)

Salary Bracket	Contribution (in pesos)
Self – employed	150
Earning 8,000 and below	87.50
Earning 8,001 – 34,995	1.25% of salary
Earning 35,000 up	437.50

The contributions are very small and usually cover only up to 30% of hospital bills so it is highly suggested that you get a separate health insurance.

Medical Insurance

On the other hand, private health insurances are also available for Filipinos for a more critical situation and care. In return, you have to shell out a few more pesos to avail such. Private health insurances pretty much cover health expenses for individuals, family or groups. One good thing about this is that it is mostly availed through free will because it can be costly, it could either be acquired on your own or through employment.

There are a lot of products out in the market that a health insurance is tied to a life insurance. So if you are the common Juan that is very skeptic in getting a Pre-Need insurance, insurance companies got creative in selling their products and tied health insurance with life insurance. The sole reason is that, life insurance is insured by the Insurance Commission and anytime that an insurance company is in peril, you are assured to have guaranteed returns.

HMO

Lastly, one of the more popular health insurance is the Health Maintenance Organization or more popularly coined as HMO. HMO premiums gets smaller as the number of people enrolled in it increases. The HMO is the most affordable and is more suited to the young professional since it can basically cover your inpatient and outpatient hospitalization cost, it also depends per plan if it would also shoulder maternity, dental and optical benefits. One of the biggest contributors, why HMO is so popular is also to the fact that businesses are slowly outsourced in the country. To sum it up, HMOs are inexpensive and you have to settle with the accredited organizations.

It has been a known fact that Filipinos aren’t really savvy in going to hospitals. As a matter of fact, on an average a Pinoy spends USD 4 a year for hospital bills and medicine. And to add, 1 out of 4 people who get hospitalized manages to exhaust his or her savings just to pay for hospital bills. But if you are someone who values your health and more of a prevention guy, you wouldn’t mind shelling out a few pesos now over a pile of hospital bills later on. Again, “prevention is better than cure.”