THE Senate Finance Committee on Sunday said that it has allocated an additional P9.3 billion to support the government’s “zero-balance billing” program.

In a statement, Senator Sherwin T. Gatchalian, who heads the committee, said that the additional funding to P65 billion stands to benefit about 18 million Filipinos.

“The increased funding for the zero-balance billing program is for healthier and safer communities. This is one of the changes that our countrymen will directly feel,” he added.

The program guarantees patients in public hospitals no out-of-pocket expenses for covered services.

Mr. Gatchalian said that the National Expenditure Program originally allocated P53.3 billion for the program, which would only cover about 16 million patients.

He added that the committee had also allotted P1 billion each to support zero-balance billing in the Lung Center of the Philippines, the Philippine Heart Center, the National Kidney and Transplant Institute, and the Philippine Children’s Medical Center.

The Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) currently shoulders the full cost of covered services under the program.

The services include room and board, medicines, laboratory tests and professional fees, ensuring that patients do not pay anything on top of their coverage. It only applies to patients admitted to ward-type hospital accommodations. — Adrian H. Halili

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