An opposition lawmaker on Thursday echoed the call of teachers to suspend the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) premium hike, saying the increase takes a toll on the meager salaries of teachers.
“We strongly urge the suspension of the PhilHealth premium hike amid the soaring prices of basic goods, commodities and services,” Assistant Minority Leader and ACT Teachers Rep. France Castro said.
She deplored that the premium increase has already caused the failure of payment of teachers’ loans with their salaries which were barely sufficient for their daily needs following the implementation of the premium adjustment last June 15.
Castro’s Makabayan bloc filed Joint Resolution 34 in January 2021 mandating the immediate suspension of the increase in the PhilHealth premium rate amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We hope that the incoming 19th Congress can find the urgency and prioritize the immediate suspension of the PhilHealth premium rate hike,” Castro added.
She also appealed to the government to prioritize wage hikes for our workers instead of imposing increases in contributions, especially in agencies with massive corruption issues.
The Federation of Free Workers (FFW) has rallied behind Albay Rep. Joey Sarte Salceda’s appeal to the next administration and to Congress for new legislations to overhaul and bring about comprehensive reforms in the PhilHealth.
Salceda, chair of the House Committee on Ways and Mean, slammed Phil Health for imposing “exorbitant” membership fees on overseas Filipino workers (OFWs), which could reach as high as P38,400 per year.
Salceda has also urged President-elect Ferdinand Marcos Jr to include in his priorities the revamp of the ‘broken PhilHealth’.
Salceda said he will refile in the 19th Congress a refined version of HB 7570 or the PhilHealth Reform Act “which would have reformed the entire system, exempted OFWs from contributions, and billed minimum wage earners only P100 in premiums monthly.”
The Albay lawmaker said the premiums PhilHealth has imposed on OFWs were too expensive.
“The question is very simple: What do OFWs stand to gain from their PhilHealth contributions when they can’t go to Philippine hospitals abroad?” Earlier this month, PhilHealth announced it will start implementing the mandatory OFWs’ membership which was suspended in 2020 upon President Duterte’s order.
Based on its Circular 2020-0014, PhilHealth imposed a schedule of premium percentage rate of the income of OFWs with a corresponding income floor and income ceiling in line with the provisions of Republic Act 11223 or the Universal Health Care (UHC) Act.
The mandatory charge was supposed to have started with a 2.75 percent of the OFWs’ income in 2019, and increase to 4 percent this year.
Salceda said the amount is “more expensive, frankly, than most general life insurance coverage. And for what? It is literally impossible for an OFW to avail of PhilHealth coverage while abroad. So, it’s literally for nothing on their end.”
“I hope to work with the next Secretary of Health and Finance Secretary Benjamin Diokno on reforming the PhilHealth. I do hope that reforming healthcare is among the top priority agenda in President BBM’s list,” Salceda said.
He said he “will convene the stakeholders again to see how we can further refine and champion the PhilHealth Reform Act.”
HB 7570 proposes systemic reforms in the PhilHealth collection system, Reserved Fund management, distribution and verification of claims and benefits, and the agency’s governance.
Under the bill, the premium contribution scheme is made more progressive by linking the income tax rate with a premium contribution.
“We are tying the premium contribution to income and are setting an income ceiling system. Under the old scheme, the more you earn above the ceiling, the less you pay as a share of income. This is of course not progressive. We are improving the system by linking it with income,” Salceda explained.
“So, what I want to do basically, is to lift the income cap so that the rich will pay significantly more, while the average worker will pay significantly less,” he said.
