VIA GRAPHIC PLUS — InLife Benefits and PhilHealth recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to bring the PhilHealth YAKAP Program closer to employees in the private sector, marking the first partnership of its kind between PhilHealth and a private healthcare benefits provider.

The collaboration aims to raise awareness of preventive healthcare services, encourage early disease screening, and help more Filipinos maximize the health benefits available to them.

The partnership brings together PhilHealth’s preventive healthcare initiative and InLife Benefits’ network of corporate clients, creating a bridge that connects employees with accessible screening and wellness services before illnesses become severe. This collaboration addresses a persistent challenge for PhilHealth regarding member awareness. Although a significant portion of the workforce holds membership, familiarity with the preventive services under the YAKAP Program remains low.

“There are a lot of diseases that could be prevented if only they were screened earlier. Now we see our national health insurance moving towards preventive health,” said Isabel Umali, MD, Deputy Medical Director, InLife Benefits. “That’s the gap that we want to close by giving people the chance to take charge of their health before catastrophic diseases happen.”

To bridge this gap effectively, PhilHealth strategically chose to collaborate with an organization capable of scaling the program’s reach. “The gap is usually there’s a problem with membership awareness in the YAKAP program. Through this initiative, we can reach out to those private companies, since we discovered that InLife has a vast connection and great IT infrastructure,” said Bernadette C. Lico, MD, Vice President, Philhealth Regional Office, NCR and Rizal. 

The YAKAP Program is supported by a wide network of healthcare providers, with more than 4,000 YAKAP clinics nationwide, including over 750 accredited facilities in Metro Manila, making preventive services readily available once members are connected to the program. Beyond expanding access, both organizations see the partnership as a model for greater collaboration between government and private healthcare institutions.

Future plans involve extending the initiative beyond employees to encompass their dependents, with the long-term vision of maximizing the number of Filipinos benefiting from preventive healthcare. As the partnership moves forward, InLife Benefits and PhilHealth NCR aim to engage more employers and expand participation across industries, demonstrating how public-private collaboration can strengthen employee wellness and improve utilization of PhilHealth services.