Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth) automatically covers persons with disabilities (PWD) enrolled in the sector’s centralized national database system.

PhilHealth Regional Office 6 (Western Visayas) Field Operations Division Chief Junie Sabusap, in a press conference on Wednesday, encouraged PWDs to seek assistance from their local social welfare and development offices to register with the Philippine Registry (PR) for PWDs.

The registry is maintained by the Department of Health and the National Council on Disability Affairs.

“PWDs registered with the PR-PWD are automatically covered by PhilHealth for their in-patient and out-patient medical needs,” he said.

The Antique Provincial Disability Affairs Office (PDAO) data showed that 17,458 PWDs have already registered with the PR-PWD as of Aug. 18, 2026. The province, however, has 23,411 PWDs.

Meanwhile, PhilHealth Regional Vice President Marjorie Cabrieto lauded the Local Health Insurance Office in the province for having the highest number of registered members and dependents across the region, with 637,181 or 100.61 percent.

“The registered members and dependents may avail of the services of the PhilHealth-accredited Yaman ng Kalusugan Program (YAKAP) Clinic and of the Guaranteed and Accessible Medications for Outpatient Treatment (GAMOT) facilities,” Cabrieto said.

Cabrieto added that they should make sure, though, that their prescription is issued by YAKAP clinic doctors to avail of free medicines up to PHP20,000 per year from GAMOT-accredited facilities.

The YAKAP-accredited facilities are available in the 18 municipalities of Antique, while 17 municipalities have GAMOT-accredited providers.

The facility in the town of Tobias Fornier is still in the process of seeking accreditation. (PNA)