MANILA, Philippines—Claiming health-care benefits has become a nightmare for Senator Nancy Binay and her husband, who ended up paying in cash after complaining of a stressful processing of papers needed to avail of Philhealth benefits.

Binay took advantage of the hearing of the Senate committee on health on Tuesday to complain the difficulty of claiming Philhealth benefits.

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“My husband kasi was confined two weeks ago and we were trying to get Philhealth benefits. Akala ko magkakasakit ulit dahil na-stressed sa pagki-claim ng Philhealth benefits (My husband was confined two weeks ago and we were trying to get our Philhealth benefits. I thought we’re going to get sick again because of the stressful processing to claim our Philhealth benefits),” she said during the hearing attended by Philhealth president and chief executive officer Alexader Padilla.

But Binay said her husband, who was reportedly afflicted with a viral illness, failed to avail of the benefits after the hospital found out that his type of illness was not covered by Philhealth.

“Hindi s’ya pasok aside from that it’s difficult for him kasi nga kung anu ano yung form na (His illness wasn’t covered but aside from that it’s because there are several forms that) you have to comply with. E uwing uwi na sya so I told him bayaran na lang natin ng cash (He wanted to go home immediately so I told him let’s just pay in cash),” she said.

Binay then asked Philhealth how its members could avail of the benefits.

“…Kasi hindi ko nga maintidinhan kung bakit ang viral illness is not included sa Philhealth package, when that’s a common illness. Kung alam ko lang na ganun sana pinasulat ko na lang na dengue para maka avail kami ng Philhealth (I didn’t know that viral illness is not included in the Philhealth package, when that’s a common illness. Had I known it’s like that then I could have told him to write dengue instead so we could avail of the Philhealth [benefits]),” she added.

Binay’s husband is Jose Benjamin Angeles, a construction and real-estate businessman whose company is reportedly involved in constructing dams.

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