Service: PhilHealth Reimbursement

I'm guessing that because you're reading this post, you weren't able to submit all the necessary PhilHealth documents prior to your hospital discharge and you're looking for reimbursement procedures (because this procudure from the PhilHealth website is just too short to give you an idea). But if you're not - meaning you (or someone else) are still in the hospital - and you're contemplating on the reimbursement option, I'm telling you: opt for the outright/automatic deduction. It's easier, simpler, less hassle, less stressful and less time-consuming. Believe me.

For those who don't have a choice but reimburse their PhilHealth benefits, I hope my experience below will help you or at least give you an idea on how to go about it.

Due to the unfortunate death of my first born, we were too messed up to think about anything else. All we wanted was to go home and give my son a proper burial. In the end, we decided to have him cremated.

After I got the discharge order from my OB-Gyne, there were a lot of things that needed to be taken cared of that we forgot to submit my PhilHealth documents when my hospital bill was settled. I don't remember anymore who reminded who, but because I was already discharged from the hospital, our only option was to have my PhilHealth benefit reimbursed.

I was still too weak then, so my husband was the one who went back to the hospital to secure all the necessary documents. He went to the PhilHealth window (in the hospital), asked for the list of requirements and went to the corresponding offices. After he got all the documents, he submitted them to the same PhilHealth window. He was given a name and phone number, and was told to contact the person after 2-3 months to inquire on the status of the reimbursement request.

On the third month, I contacted the person, who turned out to be a PhilHealth personnel. She told me that my reimbursed benefit was already available and the check has been forwarded to the hospital where I gave birth. In fact, it was already available 1 month after we filed the request (so call as early as 1 month). But she instructed me to get a BPN (Benefit Payment Notice) first before heading to the hospital to claim the check. I was told to go to the nearest PhilHealth office to get this BPN.

After securing my BPN, I went to the hospital thinking I'd be able to claim my benefits right away. But the check issued by PhilHealth was for both my hospital bill and my attending physician (doctors usually deduct the PhilHealth percentage from their professional fees). So the hospital has to cash out the check first, remove the amount allocated for my doctor, before reimbursing me the amount for my hospital bill. Because of this, I was told to go back after a week to claim my money.

The following week, I was able to get my money, a total of P11,000+. My PhilHealth benefit was P19,000, P7,000+ went to my OB-Gyne.

The procedure sounds simple, right? Well, it depends on the PhilHealth branch where you will get your BPN and the hospital where you were confined. We went at the PhilHealth Taft branch and queued for more than two hours just to get the BPN, a short information about my contributions which were printed at the back of a used bond paper. I commend the idea to recycle, but lining up for 2 hours for such a small amount of information? Is a faster, easier, more efficient way of obtaining these types of document from government agencies not doable?

I also gave birth in a government hospital (PGH) and this unfortunately means more lines, more inefficient systems of record retrieval and more frustrations. It took a total of 3 days before my husband was able to complete all the required documents. Usually, the persons who need to sign the documents were not present so he was asked to come back on another day.

On the day when I presented my BPN, we lined up for hours at the Billing window just to be told that the person in charge of reimbursement was not around and the guy at the window didn't know when she'll be back. We went out to have lunch, then back to queue again, only to be told the same thing again. My husband, partly irritated and party frustrated, decided to go inside the Billing office and look for that person.

Surprisingly, he found her, and also found out that she was there all along. The guy at the window just didn't bother to check if she's there or not. Imagine if my husband didn't go inside, we would probably go home empty-handed (and would need to go back the next day). What a waste of time.

But all is well that ends well. Given a different PhilHealth branch and hospital, your experience might be different from mine, but the procedure will be more or less the same. Also, some say that you'll get more amount by reimbursing your PhilHealth benefits than having it automatically deducted from your hospital. This is not true, at least for C-Section deliveries. My total reimbursed benefit is still P19,000, which is the allotted amount for CS delivery based on PhilHealth case-rate table.

Because of our experience, we learned our lesson. Unless it really, really, really can't be avoided, we'd rather stay a few hours more in the hospital and accomplish all the necessary PhilHealth documents and opt for outright deduction than go through the process of  PhilHealth reimbursement again.

Movie: Insidious - Chapter 2

Insidious, Insidious, Insidious. I liked the first chapter (although not as much as I liked The Conjuring - read my review here) so when I learned about the Insidious Chapter 2, you could say I looked forward to watching it. The fact that it was directed by the same person who directed The Conjuring - James Wan - and that Insidious Chapter 2 was no. 1 in the US during its opening week added to the anticipation.


I find the first Insidious movie a pretty decent horror flick, with an original plot, a good cast ensemble, and dotted with a couple or more scary scenes that were actually scary. The only thing that disappointed us, me and my husband, and made us laugh (yes, we laugh at horror movies that don't live up to our expectations), was how the ghosts were made-up. I mean, literally the ghosts' makeup. I thought it's the case of having too much that they look funny instead of scary. They looked like clowns or Heather Ledger's Joker, which I think was intentional - a lot of people are scared of clown-looking ghosts apparently - but it just didn't work for us.

So expecting that the 2nd installment will most likely have the same clown-ghosts, I counted on James Wan's earlier success with The Conjuring, to build up my anticipation and somehow, to make me believe that this movie can be better than the first. It can even surprise us, and beat The Conjuring in our scoreboard.

Unfortunately, that is not the case. I remember reading a review somewhere: "Just because it's not as scary as the first one, it doesn't mean it's a bad movie". And this is exactly how I feel. Like the first movie, Insidious Chapter 2 employs the same old-style scare tactics (with less clown-looking ghosts, yay!), has the same reliable cast that delivered good performance, and a solid story that picks up from where the first left off, which even went further by explaining some of the events in Chapter 1.

It is a good movie on its own. But it's just not as creepy and goose-bump-eliciting as it's predecessor. For me, it was the extended focus in the astral/spirit world that diluted the scare intensity of the entire movie. Even in the first chapter, I find the haunted house to be the better stage to launch effective jolts and jumpy, haunting scenes than the dark, unchartered spirit realm.

So is Insidious Chapter 2 worth watching? Yes, I can say that, especially if you enjoy the first film and would like to know what will happen next. But don't expect too much. Also, a bit of a spoiler: that scene of the white lady in the trailer, for me, is the lone scary scene in the entire movie. There were a few that came close, but that was it. So really, don't expect too much.