Catastrophic illnesses can impoverish a household due to unmanageable expenditures that arise from their treatment or management. The Z Benefits program of PhilHealth aims to protect Filipinos from financial catastrophe due to certain medical conditions. The cases included in the Z benefits program, however, are few, and only selected government hospitals provide the Z benefits. Using the private sector to address the limitations of the current Z benefits packages will enable the government to provide financial protection to more Filipinos.
This Policy Note finds that a supplemental fund from the private sector for catastrophic illness financing is currently not feasible. One of the recommendations in this Note to further involve the private sector is to enhance the current situation. The private sector provides supplemental insurance through health maintenance organizations (HMOs), insurance companies, and self-insured companies by providing Z benefits in private hospitals. This can be a common ground for PhilHealth, HMOs, and self-insured companies to serve their clients or employees for catastrophic illnesses.