PLDT Global Corp., PhilCare offer prepaid healthcare cards to Filipinos in Hong Kong

By eGov Innovation Editors | May 1, 2011

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MANILA – PLDT Global Corp. (PGC), a wholly owned subsidiary of the Philippine Long Distance and Telecommunications Company (PLDT), in partnership with PhilCare, has introduced an innovative prepaid healthcare maintenance program for Filipino workers in Hong Kong.

The innovative program allows Filipino workers to purchase prepaid health cards for their families in the Philippines. The first card called the PhilCare Yhes Card  is an annual Physical Examination package, while the second card, the WeCare Card, is a prepaid card for health consultation needs that can be used in Philcare accredited hospitals.

“Healthcare for their families is one of the most important assurances that overseas Filipinos work hard for,” said PLDT Global President and CEO Alejandro Caeg. “We’ve already seen a good demand and promising outlook for this service during our brief pilot-run in Hong Kong, and we like to bring this further with our partnership with PhilCare.”

Both cards are priced at P499 (Yhes card) and P999 (WeCare Card), respectively, and are available at the Smart Pinoy Store, a newly-launched payment gateway for Filipino products and services like healthcare.

The Yhes card package include medical history taking, physical examination, complete blood count (CBC), White Blood Cell (WBC) count, White Blood Cell Differential, Red Blood Cell (RBC) count, hemoglobin count, hematocrit count, chest X-ray, urinalysis and fecalysis for individuals up to 59 years old.

The WeCare card, on the other hand, is good for five consultations with a general practitioner or a family medicine specialist for individuals up to 59 years old. The card also comes with a personal accident insurance with a hospitalization and income benefit of up to P200 per day for a maximum of five days.

Prepaid services are a phenomenon in the Philippines, with the bulk of mobile phone subscribers availing of voice, SMS, and even data plan services through prepaid cards, which can be purchased for as low as P20 per day for unlimited voice, SMS or data services for 24 hours.
 
PhilCare's Health Buddy cards are the first-ever prepaid cards for health.