A HOUSE leader has called on the country’s estimated 14 to 15 million solo parents to sign up or update their files in their respective local government units (LGUs) to be able to enjoy the benefits under the expanded Solo Parents Law which include automatic free membership in the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth).
Camarines Sur Rep. Luis Raymund Villafuerte said once officially tagged as solo parents, they are entitled to the enhanced package of social protection benefits under Republic Act (RA) 11861, or the “Expanded Solo Parents’ Welfare Act.”
Villafuerte said the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) itself has encouraged single moms and dads to register or update their files with their respective local government units (LGUs) during the March celebration of National Women’s Month.
“For single moms and dads to be officially classified as solo parents, they need to register or update their already existing files with the Solo Parents Offices (SPOs) of the city governments or Solo Parent Divisions (SPDs) of the municipal governments where they respectively live,” Villafuerte said.
“Alongside a monthly cash subsidy for single moms and dads earning the minimum wage or below, and the 10 percent discount plus exemption from the 12 percent value-added tax (VAT) on certain essential purchases, solo parents are now entitled to free PhilHealth coverage,” said Villafuerte.
Villafuerte was a lead author of RA 11861, which expanded the benefits for single parents under the two-decade-old “Solo Parents Welfare Act” of 2000 or RA 8972.
In a 2017 study, the DOH and the University of the Philippines-National Institutes of Health (UP-NIH) estimated about 14 to 15 million solo parents in the country.
Villafuerte said that once registered as solo parents in their respective SPOs or SPDs, they will automatically be covered under the National Health Insurance Program (NHIP) of the PhilHealth.
Under PhilHealth Circular No. 0020 that was issued following last year’s enactment of RA 11861, Villafuerte said that single moms and dads need to secure or update their Solo Parent Identification Cards (SPICs) and booklets from their SPOs or SPDs, as the case may be, for them to be classified as such in the PhilHealth’s system.
This PhilHealth circular tasks the national government to pay the premium contributions of solo parents with the NHIP, he said.