THE Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (Philhealth) has expanded its coverage for its members diagnosed with high-risk pneumonia and ischemic and hemorrhagic stroke.

During a press conference, Philhealth president and chief executive officer Emmanuel Ledesma Jr. said high-risk pneumonia and ischemic and hemorrhagic stroke were the benefit packages commonly availed of by Filipinos.

He said the benefit package for high-risk pneumonia was increased to P90,100 from P32,000.

Coverage for ischemic stroke was expanded by 171 percent, from P28,000 to P76,000 while for hemorrhagic stroke, the benefit package went up from P38,000 to P80,000.

Ledesma said they are also working on expanding benefit packages for outpatient therapeutic care, particularly for the management of severe acute malnutrition.

He said they are also enhancing the coverage for breast cancer, prostate cancer, cervical cancer, and open-heart surgery for children.

For stage 0 to 3A breast cancer, one of the most common types of cancer for Filipinos, Philhealth covers P100,000.

The agency also recently issued an outpatient benefits package for mental health, covering general and specialty mental health services ranging from P9,000 to P16,000.

Ledesma said they will soon issue the implementing guidelines for the outpatient drug benefit, expanding the choices for outpatient medications from 21 to 53, including commonly prescribed outpatient medicines.

He said it includes medications for infections and maintenance medicines for non-communicable diseases.