By JOHN CARLO M. CAHINHINAN

Quezon City Rep. Precious Castelo blasted the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) over it limited coverage for those infected by the deadly coronavirus.

Castelo got irked a day after PhilHealth executive vice president for corporate affairs Shirley Domingo announced the agency has started to limit the cost of hospitalization and other medical expenses of COVID-19 which are covered by the state-run health insurance firm.

The limits are P43,997 for mild pneumonia, P143,267 for moderate pneumonia, P333,519 for severe pneumonia and P786,384 for critical pneumonia leading to COVID-19.

Castelo said Domingo’s announcement is a complete reversal of the statement made by PhilHealth president Ricardo Morales last April 2 that the government would bear the full amount of treating infected patients.

“It is the poor and senior citizens who will not be able to pay for the excess cost of treatment,” said Castelo.

Castelo stressed that PhilHealth can seek additional funds from the national government and Congress if it is in danger of running short of money for helping Covid-19 patients.

She noted that PhilHealth should not expect many infections to develop into coronavirus disease “since based on official projections, less than five percent of the cases would be severe and critical, while at least 80 percent would be mild and moderate.”