Health maintenance firms assure COVID-19 coverage for 7M PH clients

A group of health maintenance organizations (HMOs) on Friday (April 3) assured clients of COVID-19 coverage with nearly 24-hour assistance available for client concerns.

Carlos D. Da Silva, executive director of Association of Health Maintenance Organizations of the Philippines Inc. (AHMOPI), in a statement, said patients in hospitals “are treated from the onset of symptoms of severe colds and cough, sore throat, fever, chills, malaise, diarrhea” and others “until they are well and discharged.”

At least 7 million Filipinos are currently covered by HMO policies, Da Silva said.

He said “a good number of select employees”, including those manning 24-hour hotlines, of HMOs, “so far so good as far as real time service delivery is concerned.”

Da Silva said AHMOPI was cooperating with the Insurance Commission, which during the past two weeks provided relief not only to industry players but also sales agents and clients.

“Despite the rigors of an absolutely necessary enhanced community quarantine brought about by the rapid spread of COVID-19 in the country, the HMO industry keeps in step with any and all initiatives to support government and the private sector in dealing with the worsening pandemic,” he said.

He said the group had taken steps to heed all orders of the commission concerning COVID-19 “with dispatch.”

AHMOPI counts among its members more than 1,700 institutional health care providers on top of over 40,000 accredited medical specialists across the country.

Edited by TSB