Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) acting President and Chief Executive Officer, Dr. Beverly Lorraine Ho, said some benefit packages for young people and children with disabilities need to be maximized.

Ho said they aim to enroll children in YAKAP through school-based caravans to give them access to primary care.

“We want to cover as much as possible the majority of students who are studying in schools. It means that all children should have access to primary care. And because of that, we can provide them with other higher services,” she said.

Ho said PhilHealth has various packages for children, such as the provision of eyeglasses.

“So that’s for up to 15 years old. It’s really for school kids. And we know that a lot of children, we thought they are not able to study, or they don’t want to study, but in reality, their eyes are blurry. We actually have a package for that,” she said.

PhilHealth is working closely with the Department of Education (DepEd) to activate these packages.

She said they are helping optometrist groups that are eligible to provide the package.

Ho said PhilHealth also offers a package for children with disabilities.

“If a child is screened in a school with a possibility of speech delay or mobility problems, we actually have a package wherein the therapists will be paid for more than 90 sessions. We have these packages, just like Mental Health, but we haven’t optimized it yet,” she said.

She added that they aim to enroll all schoolchildren in the YAKAP program so they could avail of these health packages.

Ho also assured that PhilHealth is financially stable.

“Our commitment is to do our job in collecting because it’s important to give the benefits. It’s our job to make sure the benefits are given. And so, we make sure we follow up with the right offices. And now, we’re lucky because our national government is prioritizing health,” she said. (PNA)