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Republic of the Philippines 
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
Constitution Hills, Quezon City 
 TWENTIETH CONGRESS 
First Regular Session 
House Bill No. 1826 
__________________________________________________________________ 
Introduced by: REPRESENTATIVE ERIC L. OLIVAREZ 
EXPLANATORY NOTE 
Chronic kidney disease is not ony a debilitating disease in its 
own right, but can also contribute to, or be impacted by, other 
prominent 
chronic 
diseases, 
such 
as 
but 
not 
limited 
to 
hypertension, cardiovascular diseases and pulmonary diseases, 
among others. Kidney disease is a very common ailment worldwide, 
and if left untreated or not properly attended to it could lead to 
hemodialysis or peritonial dialysis which would hasten the untimely 
demise of a patient.  In the Philippines, kidney disease is reported 
as the 7th leading cause of death among Filipinos. Kidney transplant 
which is really the only ultimate solution to kidney failure is too 
expensive and it usually takes a very long time to get a kidney 
donor especially for un-related donation.  Thus, many Filipinos with 
serious kidney problems heavily, if not solely, rely on dialysis to 
survive.  
In the current Philhealth package for dialysis patients, only 
ninety (90) sessions are covered annually with a P2,500.00 case 
rate. However, this provision has time and again been proven to be 
inadequate as it only covers 45 weeks out of the 52 weeks 
comprising a year, assuming a patient is required to undergo 
dialysis twice a week, or only 30 weeks out of the 52 weeks, 
assuming a patient is required to undergo dialysis thrice a week. 
July 14, 2025
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What usually happens therefore is that kidney patients stop 
undergoing dialysis towards the latter part of the year due to the 
expiration of the coverage of their package being provided by 
Philhealth. As a result, these patients shell out their personal 
money to cover the medical expenses amounting to P2,800.00 per 
session in dialysis treatment and which becomes an enormous 
burden on the part of their families. After the expiration of their 
Philhealth packages, the dialysis treatment of the patients who 
belong to poor families become intermittent thus they succumb to 
death due to their intermittent or lack of treatment that could have 
been clearly preventable in the first place.  
 A case in point is that of a girl in her very tender years of 
fifteen (15), who was undergoing dialysis in Dasmarinas, Cavite. 
The Philhealth coverage of her mother expired by the month of 
October. Being indigent and with not sufficient source of income to 
sustain her treatment in the same way as when Philhealth was still 
subsidizing it, her family then limited her dialysis sessions to one or 
sometimes none at all every week in the months of November to 
December, instead of the required three (3), and also stopped 
availing of the necessary and related medical interventions such as 
the injection of epoiten Alfa or Beta Injections to increase the count 
of her red blood cells during her dialysis sessions. As a result, the 
young girl met her demise come the month of December of the same 
year. Although during her dialysis treatments when Philhealth 
package had not expired yet, the child was so vibrant and in fact, 
could still walk around.   
From the foreging, it can be seen that the current Philhealth 
coverage for dialysis patients defeats the very purpose and objective 
of the healthcare system of our government – which is to provide 
the public, especially the poor and the marginalized, the necessary 
medical assistance that they otherwise could not afford. Men and 
women, old and young all suffer the consequences of this limitation 
in the State’s healthcare services. Thus, this bill is being proposed 
in order to correct this flaw and ensure that Filipinos suffering from 
serious kidney disease that require dialysis are not rendered 
helpless and hopeless by the end-months of every year when their 


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Philhealth package has already been exhausted.  This act also aims 
to make dialysis totally free-of-charge.  
ERIC L. OLIVAREZ 


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HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
Constitution Hills, Quezon City 
 TWENTIETH CONGRESS 
First Regular Session 
House Bill No. 1826 
________________________________________________________________ 
Introduced by: REPRESENTATIVE ERIC L. OLIVAREZ 
AN ACT  
MANDATING THE PHILIPPINE HEALTH INSURANCE 
CORPORATION (PHILHEALTH) TO INCREASE THE 
HEMODIALYSIS TREATMENT COVERAGE OF ITS MEMBERS TO 
AT LEAST ONE HUNDRED FIFTY-SIX (156) SESSIONS 
ANNUALLY, AND PROVIDING SAID MEDICAL PACKAGE FREE-
OF-CHARGE TO INDIGENT PATIENTS  
Section 1. Short Title. This Act shall be known as the 
“Philhealth Hemodialysis Expansion Act of 2025” 
Sec. 2. Declaration of Policy. It is hereby declared as a 
policy of the State to ensure that the provision of healthcare 
services is truly adequate, affordable and accessible to the Filipino 
people, most especially to those who are considered indigent, as 
defined in this Act.  
Sec. 3. Coverage. This Act shall cover Philhealth members, 
and their qualified dependents as defined in Section V, Rule I, Title 
III of the Revised Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR) of the 
National Health Insurance Act of 2013, otherwise known as 
Republic Act (RA) 7875 as amended by RA 9241 and RA 10606. 
Sec. 4. Definition of Terms.  The following terms, as used in 
this Act, shall mean:  
Republic of the Philippines


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Hemodialysis – A medical procedure to remove 
fluid and waste products from the blood and to correct 
electrolyte imbalances through the use of a machine and 
a dialyzer, also referred to as an "artificial kidney." 
Hemodialysis is used to treat both acute (temporary) and 
chronic (permanent) kidney failure. 
 
 
Indigent member – For purposes of this Act, an 
indigent member shall refer to the Philhealth member: 
 
 
(1) Whose combined family income does not 
exceed Php500,000 pesos annually or which does 
not exceed the Philippines’ official poverty line 
threshold from the previous year as set by the 
Philippine Statistics Authority in consultation with 
the appropriate inter-agency technical committee, 
whichever is higher; or  
 
 
(2) Whose income is insufficient for family 
subsistence, as identified by the Department of 
Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), based on 
specific criteria. All indigents identified by the 
DSWD under the National Household Targeting 
System (NHTS) for Poverty Reduction and other 
such acceptable methods. 
 
 
It is understood that qualified dependents of the indigent 
members are also covered by the benefits and services 
provided in this Act. Provided further, that any ambiguity or 
conflict in interpretation of the definition of indigency shall be 
resolved in favor of the Philhealth member.  
 
 
 
Sec. 5. Expansion of the Dialysis Treatment Coverage. 
PhilHealth shall increase the coverage for dialysis treatment of its 
members, or their qualified dependents as provided in PhilHealth’s 
applicable rules and guidelines, from ninety (90) sessions per year 


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to one hundred fifty-six (156) sessions per year, without further 
reducing the case rate amount of two thousand five hundred pesos 
(Php 2,500.00) per session.  
 
 
Sec. 6. Free Dialysis Treatment for Indigent members. The 
annual one hundred fifty-six (156) sessions of dialysis treatment 
shall be completely free-of-charge or no cash out if the patient is 
considered an indigent member as defined under this Act. Provided 
further, that qualified dependents are understood to also be covered 
by this provision. 
 
 
Sec. 7. Application and Certification of Indigency. The 
Philhealth member who wishes to qualify under the free dialysis 
treatment for indigent members shall apply for a certificate of 
indigency at any point within the year. Once approved, the 
remaining dialysis sessions required of the patient for the rest of the 
year after the Certificate of Indigency is issued shall be free-of-
charge. Said certificate shall be renewable by the end of the year, in 
order to avail of the free dialysis treatment for the entire succeeding 
year. 
 
 
Sec. 8. Requirement for Certificate of Indigency. Philhealth 
shall 
endeavor 
to 
create 
an 
efficient, 
cost-effective, 
and 
unbureaucratic application process or system including the 
documentary requirements, for its members who wish to apply for a 
certificate of indigency in order to avail of the benefits under this 
Act. 
 
 
Sec. 9. Implementing Agencies and Rules. Philhealth shall 
issue the necessary implementing rules and regulations to 
implement the provisions of this Act within ninety (90) days after its 
effectivity.  
 
Sec. 8. Separability Clause. If any provision of this Act is 
declared invalid or unconstitutional, other provisions hereof which 
are not affected thereby shall remain valid, and in full force and 
effect. 
 


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Sec. 10. Repealing Clause. All laws, orders, decrees, rules 
and regulations and other parts thereof which are inconsistent 
with the provisions of this Act are hereby repealed, amended or 
modified.  
 
Sec. 11. Effectivity. This Act shall take effect fifteen (15) 
days after its publication in the Official Gazette or in two (2) 
newspapers of general circulation.  
 
Approved,