PhilHealth hopes UHC law amended by 2024 amid suspension of premium rate hike

The Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth) on Wednesday expressed hope that Congress will be able to amend the Universal Health Care (UHC) law by 2024 after President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. ordered the suspension of the premium rate hike for this year.

In a public briefing, PhilHealth corporate communications senior manager Rey Baleña pointed out that the Palace order only covers the suspension of the increase of premium rate and income ceiling for the stretch of 2023.

“Wala pa naman po na abiso o instruction kung pati ‘yung 2024 ipagpatuloy pa,” he said.

(There is still no advisory or instruction as to whether this will still continue in 2024.)

“Pero tayo ay umaasa dahil alam natin na may mga pending bills, mga panukalang batas sa Kongreso, at baka naman by then, ay nagawa na. Ibig sabihin, nagkaron na ng amyenda sa Universal Health Care law at makikita natin ‘yung wisdom ng Congress moving forward ano po ang maigi pagdating sa issue na ito ng contribution sa PhilHealth,” he added.

(But we are hopeful that the pending bills in the Congress will be acted upon by then. This means that we hope there will be an amendment to the Universal Health Care law, and we will see the wisdom of Congress on what will be good when it comes to this issue on the PhilHealth contribution moving forward.)

The PhilHealth official, however, stressed that they support and will abide by the directive of Marcos to suspend the premium rate increase to 4.5% this year from 4%, as well as the adjustment of the income ceiling to P90,000 from P80,000.

The scheduled increase is in accordance with the UHC, which mandated hikes in the PhilHealth contribution rate until it reached 5% by 2024.

If one earns P10,000 monthly, his or her P400 contribution will increase to P450. The contribution is divided between the employer and the employee.

“Atin pong susuportahan ang pagpapatupad ng direktibang ito ng Pangulo sapagkat nakita natin ‘yung kahalagahan nito. Sinabi na ang nilalayon nito ay para mabigyan ng financial relief ang milyun-milyon nating kababayan,” Baleña said.

(We will support the implementation of this directive of the President because we have seen its importance. It was said that the purpose of this is to provide financial relief to millions of our countrymen.)

“Tayong lahat ay naapektuhan ng pandemiyang ito at ang aksyon na ito ng Pangulo ay napapanahon,” he continued.

(We have all been affected by the pandemic and this action by the President is timely.)

Due to the suspension, Baleña had said PhilHealth has to make adjustments in the deployment of new benefits scheduled to be implemented this year.—AOL, GMA Integrated News