PhilHealth benefits and programs: Strengthening healthcare advocacy for EPCALM patients and their families

Understanding how patients can access available healthcare benefits is an important part of advancing equitable and compassionate care. For EPCALM Foundation, this means not only providing direct support to adult leukemia patients and their families, but also staying informed about government health programs and resources that can help ease the financial burden of illness.

EPCALM participated in an online learning session on 29 Sept. 2026 organized by the Association of Foundations (AF). The virtual forum provided civil society and nonprofit organizations with an overview of the role of the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth) in advancing Universal Health Care (UHC), as well as the various benefits and programs available to qualified members.

The sessions featured resource persons from PhilHealth. Particularly relevant to EPCALM was the discussion of government-supported health coverage for vulnerable and qualified sectors, including indigent beneficiaries, senior citizens, persons with disabilities, solo parents, and other groups covered under special provisions. 

These mechanisms reinforce the principle that access to essential healthcare should not be determined solely by a person's ability to pay.

The learning session also provided an opportunity to better understand newer and continuing PhilHealth programs, including GAMOT (Guaranteed and Accessible Medications for Outpatient Treatment), which is part of the YAKAP (Yaman ng Kalusugan Para Malayo sa Sakit) initiative. This aims to make essential medicines more accessible, reduce out-of-pocket expenses, and support preventive healthcare. 

Strengthening healthcare advocacy. For EPCALM, participation in learning activities such as this strengthens the Foundation's ability to guide and advocate for the patients and families it serves.

Adult leukemia can impose significant medical and financial pressures on families. Treatment may involve hospitalization, laboratory procedures, medicines, blood and blood products, consultations, and other continuing healthcare needs. Knowing what government health insurance can provide—and how patients can properly access those benefits—can help families better navigate an already challenging journey.

As a Foundation committed to equitable, compassionate, and family-centered care, EPCALM recognizes the importance of connecting patients not only to its own programs and services but also to available government benefits, healthcare institutions, and other resources.

The learning session therefore reinforces an important aspect of EPCALM's advocacy: helping ensure that adult leukemia patients and their families are informed, empowered, and able to access the healthcare assistance to which they may be entitled.

For EPCALM, championing equitable healthcare means continuing to learn, build partnerships, strengthen referral pathways, and help patients navigate available resources—so that financial and informational barriers do not stand between a patient and the care they need.

Because access to healthcare is not a privilege. It is a right—and every patient deserves a fair chance at care, dignity, and hope. (By Jefriel P. Sumandag)