LEGAZPI CITY –- Albay Gov. Joey Sarte Salceda has signed a memorandum of agreement with the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth) Regional Office No. 5 which would provide a one-year free PhilHealth membership to 117,226 indigent families from the three cities and 15 municipalities in the Province of Albay.

        Orlando D. Ińigo Jr., PhilHealth assistant vice president and concurrent regional manager, signed the MoA with Governor Salceda recently at the PhilHealth regional office.

        Ińigo said the MoA is the “first of its kind wherein the provincial government will shoulder all the cost of the hospitalization of the 117,226 families or 586130 beneficiaries.”

        Under the agreement, the 586,130 beneficiaries will come from Tabaco City, 5,255 families; Bacacay, 3,206; Malilipot, 600; Malinao, 1,716; Sto. Domingo, 1,346; Tiwi, 2,347; Legazpi City, 9,827; Camalig, 6,713; Daraga, 7,510; Manito, 2,927; Rapu-rapu, 4,730; Ligao City, 11,182; Guinobatan, 12,000; Jovellar, 2,573; Libon, 11,782; Oas, 12,761; Pioduran, 4,723 and Polangui, 16,000.

        “This agreement is unprecedented and, hopefully, this will also be implemented in other provinces of the country. For the first time, we will be able to provide free medical care to the underprivileged particularly by condoning extra hospital charges of the beneficiaries in the district hospitals,” Ińigo said.

        Ińigo further said that aside from the usual benefits like subsidies for room and board fees, professional fees, drugs and medicines, x-rays and laboratory tests at PhilHealth-accredited hospitals, card-bearers will also be entitled to free consultation and check-up, laboratory tests at provincial managed health centers.

        After signing the MoA, Salceda thanked the PhilHealth for the many layers of discounts which allowed the provincial government to cut the cost in membership fees. This could translate to a drop to P33 million from P142 million in terms of membership fees.

        “At least 25 percent of our province’s budget is allocated to health development and this is the biggest percentage in all the provinces in the country,” Salceda said.

        The former House Appropriations Committee chairman and Presidential Chief of Staff said this is “monumental and groundbreaking” and he hopes that it becomes a model for other provinces especially those that have been hit by calamities.

        The PhilHealth cards will be released next week at the Ziga Memorial District Hospital in Tabaco City, J B Duran Memorial District Hospital in Ligao City, Rapu-rapu District Hospital,Pioduran Municipal District Hospital and Pantao District Hospital.