What HMO Weight Management Coverage Usually Includes

Most HMO and health insurance plans in the Philippines don’t list “weight management” as a benefit. Instead, their health benefits cover outpatient consults, tests, and medical treatment for illnesses, and weight care gets covered when it falls under one of those.

These preventive services let you discuss weight concerns with a doctor during a visit your plan already covers.

Consults With an Internist or Endocrinologist

An outpatient consultation with an accredited doctor is a standard benefit in most corporate and individual plans. When you see an internist or endocrinologist for weight gain, the doctor records the visit under a diagnosis, such as obesity, high blood pressure, or diabetes mellitus. An internist often acts as your primary care provider and can refer you to an endocrinologist or an obesity medicine specialist if needed.

Consult an internal medicine doctor or an endocrinologist who accepts your HMO.

Lab Tests Your Doctor Requests

Diagnostic tests are usually covered when a doctor requests them for a medical reason. For weight concerns, doctors often request these:

• Blood sugar: Checks for prediabetes or diabetes mellitus.
• Cholesterol: Measures blood fats linked to heart disease.
• Kidney function: Screens for early kidney damage.
• Thyroid levels: Rules out a thyroid problem behind weight gain.

Each test typically needs its own approval from your HMO. Bring the doctor’s written request when you ask for it, since the HMO uses it to confirm the medical reason.

Book thyroid screening on NowServing

Care for Weight-Related Conditions

Obesity adds to the burden of type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and kidney disease, based on the WHO fact sheet on obesity and overweight. Once one of these is diagnosed, follow-up consults for disease control fall under your regular benefits. Hospital care for chronic conditions like heart disease or chronic kidney disease, including emergencies like a heart attack, is also processed as an illness. Your plan’s benefit limits still apply.

Find doctors who treat obesity and weight-related conditions on NowServing.

Diet Counseling During Your Annual Physical Exam

Some plans include counseling on diet and health habits as part of the annual physical exam. Maxicare, Intellicare, and Cocolife list it in their published benefits guidebooks.

You can check our HMO directory to see if your health plan is available for NowServing doctor consultations and diagnostic tests.

Why A Diagnosis Changes Your Insurance Coverage

HMO contracts pay for illnesses and injuries. A diagnosis turns “I want to lose weight” into a medical problem your doctor can document.

How Doctors Use Body Mass Index

Philippine clinical guidelines use Asia-Pacific body mass index (BMI) cutoffs to diagnose adult obesity. A BMI of 23 to 24.9 counts as overweight, and 25 or higher counts as obesity. Your doctor looks at more than BMI. They also check initial body weight, your waist size, blood pressure, lab results, and family history before making a diagnosis.

Learn more about weight management consultation in the Philippines as doctors manage patient’s weight.

Why Pre-Existing Condition Rules Matter

Many plans limit coverage for pre-existing conditions as it can dictate the possible medical costs for consultation, treatment, and medical services. Some plans cover pre-existing conditions only up to a set share of your benefit limit. For example, Intellicare’s published guidebook excludes pre-existing conditions during the first 12 months of cover. If you already had diabetes mellitus, high blood pressure, or heart disease before joining, ask how your plan treats them.

Read this related article to know more treatment options doctors consider for weight management.

What HMOs Usually Exclude From Weight Loss Care

Exclusions follow a familiar pattern across plans. Knowing them helps you plan your health care budget.

Weight Loss Medications

Traditional HMO plans often leave out outpatient medicines. Prescription medications for chronic weight management usually fall into this gap, even when a doctor prescribes them. Your doctor decides whether a weight loss drug fits your case, and not everyone qualifies. Expect to pay for prescription drugs yourself unless your plan has a separate medicine benefit.

Wellness and Slimming Programs

Fitness packages, commercial weight loss programs, and “wellness” visits without a medical reason are rarely covered. Maxicare’s LifesavER cards, for example, list “weight reduction programs and related procedures” as an exclusion.

Routine check-ups required for work, school, or travel are also commonly excluded. Your annual physical exam benefit is a separate item.

Cosmetic and Bariatric Procedures

Beautification and cosmetic procedures appear on the exclusion lists of many HMO guidebooks. Bariatric surgery coverage varies by plan, because it is a major operation. HMOs can cover bariatric surgery when the patient’s BMI is 40 and above or if their obesity leads to severe comorbidities.

NOTE: Ask your HMO directly whether your plan covers bariatric procedures and what approval it needs.

Is There a List of HMOs That Cover Weight Management?

HMOs in the Philippines don’t publish HMO weight management coverage plan by plan, and corporate benefits change from one company contract to another.

Public documents from a few HMOs show common patterns:

• Maxicare: The LifesavER emergency cards exclude weight reduction programs and related procedures.
• Intellicare: The corporate guidebook excludes cosmetic alterations and any treatment not specifically defined in the agreement.
• Cocolife Healthcare: The standard plan guidebook excludes cosmetic procedures and plastic surgery, except repairs after an accident.

Take note that two employees with the same HMO card can have different health benefits. Your company’s master contract decides what’s covered. So, it’s best to verify with your health provider if your company health plan includes weight management treatments.

Finding Accredited Doctors per HMO on NowServing

Every partner HMO has its own doctor directory on NowServing. Open the NowServing HMO directory and pick your provider to see doctors who accept that card.

To book accredited doctors under your HMO, follow these steps:

• Open the HMO directory of NowServing
• Select your HMO and it will redirect you to the list of doctors affiliated to your HMO
• Browse the list and select your preferred doctor

NOTE: You can also double-check if that healthcare professional accepts your HMO. Click “View Profile” to check the doctor’s details.

Booking a Weight Management Doctor Consult With Your HMO on NowServing

Before booking, you must first acquire your LOA via your HMO provider. Most HMOs have their own apps where you can request your LOA to skip long lines. However, you can also request it physically by visiting the HMO office at your doctor’s hospital.

After you’ve browsed the list and chosen a doctor, here’s how you can book that doctor immediately on NowServing.

1. Pick a doctor that offers weight management services (Check this guide to know the types of doctor you can book)
2. Choose “Yes” to use health card
3. Select “In-person” consultation
4. Set a schedule for your appointment, and finish the booking form
5. Wait for the doctor to accept your booking

NOTE: If the health card option doesn’t appear, that doctor can’t accept HMO bookings right now. Furthermore, you can only use your HMO for in-person consultations, it cannot be used for online consultations on NowServing.

Here’s a simple guide on how to use your health plan for NowServing doctor consultations.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) About HMO Weight Management Coverage

Can HMO cover weight loss medications like GLP-1 drugs?

No, weight loss medications like GLP-1 drugs are considered a cosmetic medical treatment. That’s why it is not covered by HMO and PhilHealth. Furthermore, dietary supplements as weight loss medications are also not included in the coverage. However, treatments like bariatric surgery or methods like gastric bypass can be covered as it is an option for severe cases of obesity.

Can HMO cover consultations for health conditions resulting from obesity?

Yes, it falls under doctor consultation coverage. Common health conditions that resulted from obesity are heart diseases, sleep apnea, PCOS/PMOS, high blood pressure, diabetes, mental health conditions, etc. Doctors may also request procedures or diagnostic tests for these conditions, these are also covered by HMOs. Although, it’s best to contact your healthcare provider to verify your health plan coverage.

Does HMO weight management coverage include online consults?

Some HMOs have their own app that can function as a way to consult accredited doctors online. However, if you plan on using NowServing for online consultation, and use your HMO, it’s not possible. NowServing doctors only allow use of HMO for in-person consultations. In short, booking a weight management doctor online and using HMO as payment is not possible.

Can I use my HMO to see a registered dietitian?

It depends on your plan. Ask your HMO whether dietitian sessions are covered and whether you need a referral from your primary care provider first. Once you have the answer, book a diet and nutrition specialist who accepts your card.

Does my HMO cover bariatric surgery?

Coverage depends on your plan, so call your HMO to ask what approval and documents it needs. A surgeon’s evaluation usually comes first, so start with a consult.

Why did my HMO deny my weight management consultation?

The visit may have been processed as a wellness or cosmetic concern instead of a diagnosed condition. Ask the doctor what diagnosis they recorded, and ask your HMO which exclusion applied.

Conclusion

Using your HMO for weight management is possible for some HMO providers. Doctor consultations are covered, but requesting medication for weight loss isn’t. It lands under the cosmetic concern, which most HMOs don’t cover. Although, surgical procedures like bariatric surgery is covered as is commonly recommended for patients with severe obesity.

Verify with your HMO provider your health plan coverage. Once you’ve verified, you can book your weight management consultation with accredited doctors on NowServing.

If your plan excludes the care you need, you can also start a weight management assessment online through NowExpress, where a doctor reviews your answers first.

The post Does HMO Cover Weight Management? A Guide to HMO Weight Management Coverage in the Philippines appeared first on NowServing Health.

What is GLP-1?

Before looking at the medicines, it helps to understand the hormone they are named after. GLP-1, or glucagon-like peptide-1, is a natural hormone your gut releases after you eat. Your body makes it in small amounts and breaks it down within minutes, as part of how the gut and brain talk about hunger and fullness.

It Curbs Appetite

GLP-1 signals your brain that you are full, which helps control how much food you take in during a meal. That sense of fullness is one reason you stop eating when you have had enough.

It Slows Digestion

This natural hormone also slows gastric emptying, meaning food stays in your stomach a little longer. That slowed digestion is part of why you feel satisfied and reach for less between meals.

It Steadies Blood Sugar

The hormone supports insulin secretion when glucose levels rise, which helps your body manage the amount of glucose in your blood after eating. Steadier blood sugar also affects how hungry you feel later in the day.

Together, these signals make GLP-1 one of the body’s built-in tools for balancing appetite and blood sugar.

Learn the common signs of diabetes in Filipino on NowServing.

How GLP-1 Drugs Work for Weight Management

GLP-1 drugs belong to a class of medications called GLP-1 receptor agonists. Prescription medicines in this class work with the same hormone pathways your body uses to signal fullness and manage blood sugar. Doctors first used this class of medications for diabetes management, because it supports blood sugar control and can help lower blood sugar. Later, doctors also found it useful for weight management in certain patients. That is why the same class now appears in conversations about both conditions.

These medicines are not a stand-alone solution. A doctor may prescribe one as part of a wider treatment plan that still includes dietary changes and physical activity. Any weight reduction depends on the person, their health history, and how closely the plan is followed.

Find and consult an endocrinologist on NowServing to discuss medical weight management options.

Obesity Is a Chronic Disease, Not a Willpower Problem

Doctors now treat obesity the way they treat other long-term conditions, because it involves hormones, metabolism, and genetics, not only eating habits. It is a chronic, relapsing disease, according to the World Health Organization, so seeing it as a medical condition changes how it is managed and who should be involved.

Carrying excess body weight raises the risk of several serious conditions:

• Type 2 diabetes
• High blood pressure
• Cardiovascular disease
• Fatty liver disease
• Sleep apnea
• Chronic kidney disease

This is also why insulin resistance and rising blood sugar levels often appear alongside weight gain. Managing your weight protects your overall health, though only a doctor can confirm where your weight falls, since a number on a chart is a starting point for a conversation, not a diagnosis on its own.

Learn more about obesity and weight management on NowServing.

Who Decides If GLP-1 Medicine Is Right for You

Not everyone who wants to lose weight is a candidate for these medicines. Eligibility depends on your body mass index, your health history, and the other conditions you may have. A doctor looks at the whole picture, not weight alone.

They look at your weight history, your blood sugar levels, and whether you have conditions such as insulin resistance, high blood pressure, or type 2 diabetes. Doctors also check the other medicines you take, since some combinations need extra care.

The decision is always medical, and the medicine is prescription only. This is where a proper consultation matters. A doctor can weigh the benefits against the risks for your specific situation and build a plan around your needs.

You can find obesity medicine specialists near you on NowServing to start that conversation.

GLP-1 Drugs Are Not a Shortcut: Food and Movement Still Matter

No medicine replaces the foundation of good health, which is what you eat and how you move. These habits support any treatment plan and benefit your overall health whether or not medicine is involved.

Building a Balanced Plate with Pinggang Pinoy

The Pinggang Pinoy food guide offers a simple way to portion meals. Fill half your plate with vegetables and fruit, one-third with rice or other carbohydrates, and the rest with protein such as fish, chicken, or beans.

A quick hand guide helps when you have no measuring tools. A serving of protein is about the size of your palm, while a serving of rice is about the size of your fist. Water instead of sweet drinks is another easy win at every meal.

Targeting Healthy Filipino Dishes

Filipino cuisine has many healthy options that you can select for meals. Choose grilled or boiled dishes like inihaw na isda or nilagang baka over fried and sauce-heavy options. You can also choose to eat extra vegetables such as ensaladang talong or ginisang gulay, and go easy on the extra cup of rice. Meals like these lower the calories in a meal without giving up Filipino flavors.

Read this related article to know more Filipino meals to incorporate in your meal plan for weight loss

Moving More Day to Day

Physical activity does more than burn calories. Regular movement helps preserve muscle mass, improves blood sugar control, and supports your heart.

You do not need a gym to start. Brisk walking, climbing stairs, and household chores all count toward the weekly movement that keeps healthy habits going. The goal is to sit less and move a little more each day.

Sleep and Stress Count Too

Weight is not only about food and exercise. Poor sleep and constant stress can raise appetite and make healthy choices harder to keep.

Protecting your rest and finding ways to manage stress support the rest of your plan. These habits cost nothing and help your overall health in many ways. Even small, steady changes here make the other habits easier to keep.

What to Expect During A Weight Management Consultation

Like any specialist visit, a weight management consultation starts with the doctor getting to know your health. The doctor will ask about your current health and any existing conditions, such as diabetes or PCOS/PMOS. These details help the doctor see the full picture behind your weight.

At the same time, the doctor will ask about your habits and goals for weight loss before suggesting anything. Honest answers let the doctor tailor advice to your real routine.

The doctor will:

• measure your weight and body mass index
• take your blood pressure
• ask for blood sugar or other laboratory tests

From there, you and the doctor decide on a plan together. That plan is built around your needs, and it often focuses on food, movement, and follow-up before anything else is considered.

NOTE: If you and your doctor are thinking about GLP-1 medicine alongside lifestyle changes, an endocrinologist or obesity medicine specialist is a good fit

Read this related article to learn more about what you can expect during a weight loss management consultation.

How to Book a Weight Management Consultation on NowServing

Booking a weight management consultation takes a few minutes:

• Open the NowServing app or search Weight Loss Management service on the NowServing website
• Browse the doctors offering weight management services and choose one.
• Pick an online or in-person consultation
• Wait for the doctor to accept your booking

If you want to talk about medicine for weight management, search for an endocrinologist or obesity medicine specialist on NowServing

Check this guide to know what type of specialists you can consult from for weight management.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) About GLP-1 Drugs

Are GLP-1 drugs safe for weight management?

These medicines can be part of safe, supervised care when a doctor prescribes and monitors them. Safety depends on your health history, which is why a consultation comes first. Self-medicating without medical guidance is not safe.

Do I need a prescription for GLP-1 drugs?

Yes. These medicines are prescription only, and a licensed doctor decides if one is right for you. You can see a doctor on NowServing, or start online on NowExpress, where you answer a short health assessment and a doctor reviews it before anything is prescribed.

Which doctor should I see for weight management in the Philippines?

An endocrinologist or an obesity medicine specialist commonly handles medical weight management. Your primary care doctor can also assess you and refer you if needed. If high blood sugar is part of the picture, the endocrinologist can also help you check if taking the GLP-1 drug can affect your current diabetes treatment.

Will GLP-1 drugs work without diet and exercise?

Doctors prescribe these medicines as part of a treatment plan, not as a replacement for healthy habits. Dietary changes and physical activity remain the foundation of managing your weight and protecting your overall health. These same habits also support the prevention of diabetes and other conditions.

How do I start if I think I am a candidate for GLP-1?

Only a doctor can tell you if GLP-1 medicine fits you. You can start two ways: book an endocrinologist or obesity medicine specialist on NowServing, or answer the short assessment on NowExpress, where a doctor reviews your health first.

Conclusion

GLP-1 drugs have drawn attention because they work with hormones the body already uses to manage appetite and blood sugar. They are one option in doctor-led weight management, so a prescription is always required, and they work alongside food and movement, not in place of them. You can take the first step: a weight management consultation.

NowServing connects you with endocrinologists, obesity medicine specialists, and weight management services across the Philippines, so you can take that first step, weight management consultation.

Begin your doctor-guided weight loss journey on NowExpress.

The post GLP-1 Drugs for Weight Management: What Filipinos Should Know appeared first on NowServing Health.

The Philippine Mental Health Association identified that around 3.6 million Filipinos live with a mental health disorder, neurological condition, or substance use disorder, based on a Manila Bulletin news article, and most never reach a doctor. This blog explores why mental health is stigmatized, how public stigma sustains the silence, and how a small private gesture can begin the shift.

Why Does Mental Health Stigma in the Philippines Still Persist?

The situation with mental health in the Philippines happened due to multiple factors. It is a tangle of cultural patterns, negative attitudes, and inherited negative stereotypes. Unfortunately, these factors are the reasons why people do not pursue professional help.

Hiya and the Culture of Saving Face

Often described as the deep Filipino sense of shame, hiya shapes how families respond to mental illness. Admitting a son or daughter sees a psychiatrist or admitting to your parents that you are struggling can feel like exposing a family flaw to neighbors and relatives. Fear of judgment often outweighs the urgency of treatment.

Furthermore, many patients describe putting off their first consultation for months or years because they worry about the prejudice and derogatory terms whispered behind their back. This is a social stigma about mental health: nobody insults you, but nobody asks either.

Religiosity and Spiritual Framing

Filipino culture often reads emotional struggle through a spiritual lens. Phrases like “manalangin ka lang,” “kapit lang,” or “lakas ng loob” frame depression and anxiety as tests of faith rather than treatable mental health conditions.

This framing is meant to comfort, but it also delays treatment. When a young adult with a serious mental illness like bipolar disorder hears that prayer is the answer, the visit to a mental health doctor gets postponed. Faith and treatment are not enemies, but for many families, religion is offered as a replacement for professional help rather than alongside it.

“Tibay ng Loob” and the Stoic Standard

There is a quiet expectation in Filipino households that strength means silence. Tibay ng loob, or inner toughness, is praised. Emotional openness is treated as weakness, which is instilled at an early age in Filipino families.

This is structural stigma at the household level. It teaches young people that mental health challenges should be carried alone, away from any supportive environment. The patient who finally seeks help often fights both the illness and the voice telling them to be tougher.

Family Privacy and the Closed Door

Filipino families often handle problems internally. “Wag mong sabihin sa iba” is a common refrain. The idea protects the family’s image, but it isolates the person who needs help most.

Closed doors are rarely meant to harm. It is generational silence learned across decades, and it makes mental health treatment in the Philippines feel like a betrayal of family loyalty. Mental health stigma in society stays durable when walls built with care become impossible to breathe behind.

Three Forms of Mental Health Stigma Filipinos Face

Mental health stigma in the Philippines is not one wall. It is three walls working at once, with mental illness stigma compounding across each level. Researchers call them public stigma, structural stigma, and self-stigma, and each one blocks a different path to mental health care.

• Public Stigma: Society itself creates public stigma. It shows up in derogatory terms whispered behind a patient’s back, in negative stereotypes about people with mental illness, and in fear of discrimination from neighbors, employers, and extended family. Social stigma about mental health makes seeking professional help feel costlier than staying silent.
• Structural Stigma: The Philippines has fewer mental health workers than the region’s median, fewer accessible clinics outside Metro Manila, and very limited insurance coverage for mental health services. Such structural gaps mean even motivated patients face barriers their wealthier counterparts do not. The system is not built for them, even when it is built for their physical health.
• Self-Stigma: Patients turn the stigma inward through self-stigma. After enough public stigma soaks in, a patient internalizes the message. They may believe they are weak, broken, or a burden to their family. Self-stigma drives social isolation, delayed treatment, and the feelings of shame that keep patients silent even around people who would help.

For someone living with a serious mental illness, that silence can become its own diagnosis. Stigma reduction at this level only works when someone else moves first.

Identify the common mental health conditions to know that you can seek help from mental health specialists.

The Cost of Silence: What Untreated Mental Illness Costs the Filipino Families

Measurable consequences follow the stigma on mental health here. More than 1.1 million Filipinos live with major depressive disorder according to DOH data. Young Filipinos face rising rates of anxiety disorders, burnout, and substance use that disrupt everyday life and erode physical health.

A financial wall makes it worse. One therapy session in the Philippines typically costs PHP 1,500 to PHP 5,000, and most patients need consistent visits over months. For a family earning the median household income, sustained therapy can stretch the budget past its breaking point.

Many patients begin treatment with hope, then quietly drop out of mental health services when the bills add up. Therapy interrupted is therapy lost, and social isolation often follows when the cycle resets. Each dropout signals the country’s mental health outcomes moving the wrong way.

Explore affordable online psychiatrist options that lower the cost barrier for patients.

Why Small Private Actions Move Culture More Than Big Public Ones

National campaigns help. World Mental Health Day posts on social media help. But the deepest cultural shifts often start in private rooms, not on public stages.

A daughter who quietly pays for her father’s first counseling session can change a family pattern that has lasted generations. When a friend messages “I noticed you have been off, I am here,” it can break a silence that ten public service announcements never reached. One patient assisting another patient through a health gift card can turn a community of strangers into a community of survivors.

These small acts do the cultural work that broader campaigns rarely finish. They do not lecture or perform. Instead, they challenge stereotypes and drive stigma reduction, opening a door and letting the person decide when to walk through.

NowServing Care Gift Card as a Quiet Rebellion Against The Stigma on Mental Health

We built the NowServing Care Gift Card for these small private acts.

It lets you fund mental health treatment for someone you care about without forcing a confrontation. You do not have to find the perfect words or ask invasive questions. Send a gift card, let them use it, and the conversation can happen later, on their terms or not at all.

For mental health patients, the gift card removes the financial wall. Families get a door that opens without barging through it. Friends get a way to offer support with positive impact, without overstepping or invading too much privacy. That shift quietly rebels against decades of stigma, giving the recipient room to browse psychiatry specialists near them on NowServing when ready.

This act can help change perception in mental health, and bring acceptance to the society that these are illnesses, which can be managed and treated like a physical condition.

Read and know about the origin of this new product from NowServing in this blog.

How to Send a NowServing Care Gift Card for Mental Health Care

Sending a gift card using the NowServing app is intentionally simple, so the giver does not have one more reason to hesitate.

Follow these steps:

• Open the NowServing app and tap the Care Gift Card banner.
• Fill out their info: mobile number and name. Email, a personal note, and a suggested doctor are optional.
• Select the amount: P1,000, P1,500, P2,000, or a custom amount. You can also cover the P275 service fee so they get the full gift.
• Review the details and pay.

Recipients get notified via SMS that their gift card is ready for redemption. It is inside the “My Wallet” of their NowServing account. They can book a psychiatrist for medication-related treatment, schedule a session with a psychologist, pay for follow-ups, or book a psychological assessment for deeper evaluation. NowServing also has doctors for anxiety and stress.

NOTE: Patients can only use the NowServing Care Gift Card for mental health related consultations for now. Stay tuned for next updates for future use of the gift card for outside of mental health consultations.

Who Should You Consider Gifting a One-time Use Care Gift Card To

The gift card is built for all Filipino patients, but you can also consider these three audiences, each carrying a different weight in someone’s mental health journey.

• Fellow patients: Someone in your support group who mentioned they had to pause therapy. A friend you met in an online community who shared they cannot afford this month’s session.
• Family members showing signs of strain: The adult child who has gone quiet or your sibling who’s sleeping too much or too little. A parent whose burnout has been called pagod for too long.
• Friends who have been carrying too much alone: The one who replies “I am fine” too quickly or that person who needs an opened door, not a forced conversation.

You do not need a diagnosis to gift it. All you need is the instinct that someone you care about could use one less wall between them and care.

Frequently Asked Questions About Mental Health Stigma in the Philippines

How common is mental health stigma in the Philippines today?

Mental health stigma today affects most Filipino households despite years of mental health awareness work. Reports from the Department of Health and the World Health Organization show that a majority of Filipinos with diagnosable mental health concerns never receive professional help, often because of fear of discrimination, feelings of shame or hiya, and a lack of understanding from family members. The Philippine Mental Health Association has called the gap a public health crisis.

What factors hinder Filipinos from getting mental health treatment?

The biggest factors are cost, mental illness stigma, religious framing of mental health issues, family privacy norms, and the cultural expectation of tibay ng loob. Cost alone disqualifies many patients, which is where the NowServing Care Gift Card helps.

Read more about how you can find mental health professionals for treatment through telemedicine options.

Can the NowServing Care Gift Card be used for any mental health condition?

Yes. The gift card can be used to seek professional help to manage mental health conditions like depression, anxiety, and other mental health conditions, including bipolar disorder, burnout, substance use disorders, etc. Patients who receive the gift card have the power to use it for initial assessment or pay for therapy sessions.

Is the recipient told who sent the gift card?

Yes. The recipient gets an SMS and an in-app notification, and the Care Gift Card shows who it is from, plus your optional personal note. What stays private is everything after: the sender never sees which doctor they choose or what they talk about.

Conclusion

Mental health stigma in the Philippines did not appear overnight, and it will not disappear in a single campaign. It is woven through hiya, religiosity, family privacy, and the quiet expectation that we should all be a little tougher than we are. Unfortunately, this constant silence has a cost; delayed treatment, interrupted therapy, and Filipino lives we could have supported earlier.

The real shift is about to begin, through the NowServing Care Gift Card: Show how much you care even without saying a word.

Download the NowServing app today! Send a gift card to your friend, family member, or other loved ones!

The post NowServing Care Gift Card: Possible Solution Against Mental Health Stigma in the Philippines appeared first on NowServing Health.

Fortunately, there’s a more convenient way of receiving quality health care and services, which is in the form of an online consultation platform like NowServing. In this blog, let’s uncover how NowServing by SeriousMD is one of the effective medical care platforms for all kinds of patients. Discover more about NowServing, and how it is built to serve countless Filipino patients.

Let’s begin!

What is NowServing

NowServing, an online platform by SeriousMD, takes the hassle out of the equation and narrows the gap between patients and doctors, removing limited access to health services. It is a one-stop solution to poor access to health services for Filipinos. This medical app offers the ability to book a doctor’s appointment, whether virtual or face-to-face, at their preferred schedule. In short, this seamless feature shows the convenience that patients deserve, which helps elevate the country’s healthcare system.

Aside from that, this platform offers its users access to a spectrum of medical services. At the same time, various specialty doctors or health care providers are available for medical appointments to cater to the patient’s health. Currently, there are specialized healthcare providers that offer their services in NowServing. From childhood conditions to adulthood chronic illnesses, these doctors are dedicated to finding a working treatment plan for the patients.

Patient Access to Health Services in NowServing

As mentioned, there are several types of doctors who offer their health care services on this platform. This healthcare access is a user-friendly app that patients utilize to connect with their chosen primary care provider or doctor. While it is normal to be intimidated by such health care advancements, patients can expect that this tool will help remove access barriers in the health care system. Thus, allowing patients in need to address their condition immediately due to the instant health access using the NowServing app.

What to Expect from NowServing App

Reputable Medical Doctors

When dealing with mild to severe health conditions, it is important to meet with professionals in the field to ensure accurate diagnosis and receive suitable treatment options. That’s why the healthcare professionals or doctors in the app have the credentials that patients can trust. Patients can utilize the app to check the doctor’s profile, which shows the certifications, number of work experience, and other vital info. With this feature, patients can easily entrust their health to the doctor, and be encouraged to book a consultation.

Wide Selections of Healthcare Professionals

Meanwhile, several doctors are available for consultation on NowServing that can provide quality care and service to patients. Some doctors specialize in General Medicine, Pediatrics, Cardiology, Emergency Care, Women’s Health, etc.

Of course, wanting the best person available is one of the main goals of any patient. Being able to book such a type of doctor will help individuals to receive the healthcare service they need. That is why NowServing lets people search for their doctors. Aside from that, the platform provides a comprehensive list of hospitals, allowing them to book an appointment with the nearest doctor.

Available Resources for Understanding Conditions and Services

On the other hand, NowServing also promotes access to health services by providing resources about a certain service. NowServing website contains a list of services that can be tools for managing chronic conditions and safeguarding the welfare of public health. This website provides knowledge and access to health services that can be a potential cure for patients.

Common services including children’s vaccinations, COVID-19 consultations, medical certificates, dental care, and LASIK are available anytime.

Usage of Different Accredited Health Insurance Coverage

Lastly, users can utilize their HMO and choose from NowServing’s accredited coverage. Some doctors accept a certain HMO plan in exchange for their medical care services. Thus, allowing patients to have cashless transactions when applied. Patients can visit the HMO list to ensure that usage of their HMO plan applies to the chosen doctor.

The future of medical health is here by allowing patients to have seamless access to health services.

If you need more information, visit NowServing at NowServing.ph. You can also follow us on Facebook and Instagram at @nowservingph.

For a more comfortable experience, you can download NowServing on Google Play and the App Store for free.

The post Access to Health Services Made More Convenient: “NowServing” by SeriousMD is the Healthcare You Deserve appeared first on NowServing Health.