MANILA – A House of Representatives committee has approved a measure seeking to grant the President the authority to suspend the scheduled increases in the contribution rates of the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) during national emergencies.
The House committee on health on Thursday approved a consolidated measure seeking to amend the Universal Health Care (UHC) Law which provides for the gradual increases in the monthly premium contributions of PhilHealth members.
Under the UHC Law, the PhilHealth premium contributions will increase to increments of 0.5 percent every year starting 2021 until it reaches the five-percent limit in 2025. For 2021, the increase in the contribution rate would be from the current three percent of the monthly basic salary of the member to 3.5 percent.
In the approved measure, the President, in consultation with the Health secretary, may “suspend the implementation of the scheduled increases in premium rates in times of national emergencies when public interest so requires.”
“Imposing a higher premium rate to our kababayans under our current conditions will definitely enforce a new round of financial burden to its members,” said measure author Lord Allan Velasco.
“Suspending the imposition of the new PhilHealth premium rates will provide a much-needed relief from the negative effects of the pandemic and will assure Filipinos that the government is sensitive to their sentiments,” he added.
House health panel committee chair Helen Tan supported the premium hike suspension to provide PhilHealth contributors immediate relief amid the current pandemic.
“This lofty ambition, however, should be supported by sufficient funds to sustain the reforms introduced by the UHC Law, which is the rationale for annual and incremental increases on the premiums and to espouse a spirit of social solidarity so that those who have less in life should have more in law,” Tan said.
Aside from Velasco’s measure, the panel also tackled other bills which directly propose to suspend or defer the implementation of the rate hike./PN
