PhilHealth President and CEO Ricardo Morales says expenses covered by the agency's COVID-19 test package are bound to drop further this year, denying allegations of overpricing.
PhilHealth has come up with a revised COVID-19 test package, slashing half of the original price after receiving criticisms from lawmakers.
“The initial cost estimates were done in March 2020, where all the data gathered was during that time," PhilHealth’s Dr. Ish Pargas told a House committee hearing on COVID-19."We have very limited information. But at that time, we already know that we needed to adjust the package amount.” "Gusto kong bigyang-diin na walang overpricing ang cost [I want to emphasize that there was no overpricing of costs]," he added, explaining that it was wrong to compare the package amount to the cost of each testing kit. Morales said that PhilHealth also covers for the costs to purchase, transport, extract, and even transfer specimen to testing centers for reimbursement.
The service used to cost ₱5,442, which covers the use of PCR equipment, laboratory supplies, and two medical staff to perform the testing.
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