PhilHealth's 45 Days Allowable Period Explained

If you are wondering what PhilHealth means by this 45-days allowable period, then read on.

The 45 days period is the maximum number of days per year that a member will be allowed to avail of PhilHealth benefits. It's the same as the cap or ceiling being implemented in HMOs, only its in days and not in amount.

A separate 45 days period is being given to the declared dependents and all dependents will share this ceiling. So as long as the 45 days allowable period has not yet been consumed by the dependents, the member may still avail the PhilHealth benefits for confinement of one of the declared dependents. However, the member cannot use his own 45 days allowable limit in cases when the 45-days limit for the declared dependents is exhausted and vice versa.

So if you have a big family and you and your spouse are members of PhilHealth, come up with a plan on how to declare your dependents. If you have, lets say 2 children, then both members can declare one child so as to maximize the 45 days allowable period for the dependents.

However, please note that PhilHealth does not allow multiple declaration of dependents, meaning a child may not be declared by both parents or a parent may not be declared by more than one child. Also note that the 45 days allowable period is just another criteria for availment, there are other criteria such as your payment regularity (3/6 or 9/12), single period of confinement, compensable procedures and medicines and accreditation of providers. We'll try to explain them one by one in succeeding posts.