Senator Christopher Go, chair of the Senate Committee on Health, has filed Senate Bill 2000 that seeks to grant the President of the Philippines the authority to suspend the scheduled increase in the premium contribution rates of Philippine Health Insurance Corporation.
“Let us first focus to help our needy to survive the COVID-19 crisis. During this time, we have to address their needs first,” Go said.
“Especially now that our country is facing a health emergency, our people are incapable of giving additional contributions due to the crisis. Nawawalan ng kakayahan ang mga Pilipinong magbigay ng dagdag na kontribusyon dahil sa krisis. In this time of crisis, every single peso counts!”
In line with this, Go has urged the national government to shoulder first the necessary funding to implement the Universal Health Care Law while the majority of Filipinos are still overcoming the adverse effects of the COVID-19 crisis on their livelihoods and the whole economy.
SBN 2000 would authorize the President to suspend, upon the recommendation of the PhilHealth Board, the increase in premium contributions when public interest so requires, such as times of national or public health emergencies. The increase and all succeeding increases will be implemented in the year following the cessation of the emergency.
In March 2020, PhilHealth issued Circular 2020-005 that provides for a new schedule of contributions mandated under Republic Act 11223 or the UHC Act.
Mandatory PhilHealth contributions are set to increase annually from 2020 to 2025 until they reach 5 percent of the monthly income. Direct contributors were to pay a fixed monthly premium of P350 to P2,450 depending on their monthly income starting January 1, 2021.
Employee contributions will be shared equally by the employee and employer.
Meanwhile, self-paying members, professional practitioners, land-based migrant workers and other direct contributors with no employee-employer relationship will shoulder the full amount.
To ensure people’s continued access to affordable health coverage, Go earlier issued an urgent call to government finance managers and his fellow legislators to defer the scheduled increase in light of the COVID-19 pandemic and its adverse impacts on the jobs and livelihoods of Filipinos.
He emphasized that “government, as a whole, must do its best to unburden Filipinos by shouldering the cost while ensuring that the Universal Health Care Law is implemented and the services of PhilHealth are unhampered.”
In response, the state insurance agency expressed its support for the President and his decision in a statement issued on January 5. It announced it would continue to use the 3 percent contributions rate as opposed to 3.5 percent.
PhilHealth also committed to work closely with the Houses of Congress to find a “whole-of-government and whole-of-nation solution” to the issue.
“Should there be no new legislation passed for this purpose, the state health insurer will proceed with the scheduled premium rate and ceiling as provided for in the UHC law,” Philhealth said.