Senate OKs bills deferring PhilHealth premium hike
THE Senate Committee on Health and Demography, led by Sen. Christopher Lawrence “Bong” Go, approved on Tuesday measures that will defer the scheduled monthly contribution rates increase of the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth).
“President [Rodrigo] Duterte has agreed to temporarily suspend the increase in PhilHealth contribution rates while we are in a pandemic,” Go said. “When the [Universal Health Care Act] was crafted, no one knew that a pandemic would hit us. Although the increase in PhilHealth contributions ensures sufficient funding for the health care of its members … it is only reasonable and equitable to postpone incremental premiums due to the bad economic conditions caused by [the crisis].”
The UHC Law, Republic Act 11223, mandates an increase in PhilHealth premium contribution from 3 percent to 3.5 percent in 2021. Mandatory contributions will be increased annually until 2025.
“The government, as a whole, must do its best to unburden Filipinos by shouldering the cost while ensuring that the [UHC] law is implemented and the services of PhilHealth are unhampered,” Go said.
To address the issue, the committee approved the bills that seek to grant the President the authority to suspend any increase in the premium contributions in times of national or public health emergencies.
Approved were Senate Bills (SBs) 2000, 1977, 1971 and 1966, which were authored by Senators Go, Leila de Lima, Richard Gordon and Maria Imelda Josefa “Imee” Marcos, respectively, as well as SB 1968, which was principally authored by Senate Majority Leader Juan Miguel Zubiri and Senators Mary Grace Poe and Emmanuel Joel Villanueva, and co-authored by Senators Juan Edgardo “Sonny” Angara, Maria Lourdes Nancy Binay and Sherwin Gatchalian.
The committee likewise took into consideration SB 1975, a bill authored by Sen. Ramon Revilla Jr., which mandates the suspension of any premium contribution hikes during a state of emergency or calamities by amending the UHC Act.
Go asked PhilHealth chief Dante Gierran to hasten the agency’s efforts to recover the P15 billion worth of funds allegedly stolen by a “syndicate’’ in the state-run health insurer.