During my younger years, I would prefer buying my family some new clothes, toys for the kids, and gadgets for my husband during the holidays. But now that I'm nearing my 40s, I started to learn the importance of being prepared financially especially when hospitalization strikes with one of us.
Last year, I was diagnosed with dengue and got hospitalized. I was even misdiagnosed by my physician at first. She instantly thought I had measles by the looks my rashes. That was a 3-day, 2-night stay in Paranaque Medical Center and the total cost of everything was more than P30,000. It was really a major blow on our budget because we don't have healthcare plans since my husband and I are both working as freelancers. I did try canvassing for the prices of healthcare plans before, but each one costs more than P20,000 each annually. Some families find this affordable, but unfortunately we don't.
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| Hospitalized at Paranaque Medical Center. Doctors thought I had measles because of the rashes, but it was actually Dengue. |
Luckily, prepaid health plans are available now in the market. And since Dengue was a threat in our area, I wanted to be prepared financially just in case my kids got hospitalized. So last year, I availed the My Maxicare LITE plan, a one-time inpatient hospitalization plan, for my kids with the price of P1,999 per card. It can cover your hospitalization charges up to P25,000 in any Maxicare accredited hospitals. The card covers the following viral illnesses:
- Dengue
- Malaria
- Cholera
- Typhoid and Paratyphoid
- Gastroenteritis
- Pneumonia
- Chikungunya
- Leptospirosis
Since the card covers Dengue fever, I felt secured. The card expires after 1 year of registration and I am thankful that I wasn't able to use them. I just regret not having my own card registered to me because I got sick due to Dengue and we had to pay all hospital charges in cash.
Since the card has expired last October, 2019, I was contemplating whether to avail another Maxicare LITE card or switch to another healthcare provider. I did notice that different prepaid health cards are starting to get popular especially for freelancers like me because of their affordability.
There was one website I visited and it was MariaHealth.ph where I found all the prepaid health cards are available so I was able to compare each of them regarding their coverage and prices. I found health care providers such as Maxicare, PhilCare, InLife by Insular Health Care, and more.
It was quite confusing for me what to buy at first, but I eventually decided to purchase the InLife prepaid health plans for me and my family. They're more expensive than Maxicare LITE, but the difference in coverage is huge.
For my kids, I bought the InLife ER Care All-In 80 Regular for the price of P4,150 each. The plan provides you inpatient care coverage of up to P80,000 for emergency cases due to accidents, viral and bacterial illnesses, and specific conditions in InLife Health Care-accredited hospitals nationwide (excluding the top hospitals). And yes, Dengue is included in the viral illnesses that they cover.
For my kids, I bought the InLife ER Care All-In 80 Regular for the price of P4,150 each. The plan provides you inpatient care coverage of up to P80,000 for emergency cases due to accidents, viral and bacterial illnesses, and specific conditions in InLife Health Care-accredited hospitals nationwide (excluding the top hospitals). And yes, Dengue is included in the viral illnesses that they cover.
What also made me get this card is because my daughter got hospitalized due to acute bronchitis, a bacterial illness, when she was 2 years old. Realizing that acute bronchitis is one of the most common diseases in children plus learning that the InLife ER Care also covers the said ailment, I had no second thoughts of buying it.
Here are the diseases that InLife ER Care covers:
- Acute Bronchitis
- Acute gastroenteritis with dehydration
- Acute tonsillopharyngitis with moderate dehydration
- Acute Sinusitis
- Acute tonsillopharyngitis
- Acute Upper Respiratory Tract Infection
- Amoebiasis
- Cellulitis
- Dengue Fever
- Acute Pneumonia
- Typhoid Fever
- Urinary Tract Infection
- SVI (systemic viral infection) with fever
- Measles with high-grade fever
- Chicken pox with complications
- Leptospirosis
- Polio
- Cholera
- Diphtheria
- Pertussis
- Tetanus
- Rabies
- Meningitis
- Chikungunya
- Malaria
- Anaphylactic Shock
- Acute Appendicitis
- Acute Gastritis
The InLife Care card also covers accidents that include, but are not limited to:
- Accidents, excluding Cerebrovascular (Stroke)
- Fractures
- Burns
- Animal bites, including first dose of vaccines
- Cuts needing suturing
- Sports injuries, both contact and non-contact sports (except professional sports and high-risk sports)
- Accidental chemical poisoning
Benefit limit covers the following:
- Doctor’s professional fee
- Laboratory and diagnostic procedures
- Emergency room care
- Room accommodations (Semi-private)
- Medicines as medically necessary in the emergency room and during confinement
- Surgery and surgeon’s fees when medically necessary
- Use of operating room, recovery room, and ICU, as medically necessary
- Special modalities as medically needed, subject to P5,000 sublimit
- Unlimited telemedicine access (for gatekeeping)
The prepaid cards for the kids are more expensive than the cards for adults, and it's quite understandable. Kids do get sick more often than adults.
For this year, I got 4 InLife Care Prepaid Health plans for all of us and it cost me more than P10,000. I used part of my 13th month pay just to pay for this. It's actually cheaper compared to paying the whole hospital bill if one of us got hospitalized. Take note that admission fee alone in a private hospital costs P10,000+
We may or may not use the plans during the 1 year duration, but at least my mind is at ease knowing that we are protected.
So regardless of what industry you belong to, if you don't have a health care plan yet, I do recommend you buy one at least for your children just to be on the safe side. It's better to be safe than sorry as they say.
Note: This is NOT a sponsored post.
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