President Rodrigo Duterte has ordered the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth) to defer the increase in contributions for 2021.
The president told PhilHealth CEO and President Dante Gierran that PhilHealth needs to suspend the scheduled contribution hike to lessen the burden of Filipinos affected by the prevailing coronavirus pandemic.
“We come now to the status sa PhilHealth. There is a move to increase the contribution ng mga members. At this time of our life, may I just suggest to the PhilHealth chairman, si Dante Gierran at saka ‘yung si — lahat na — isang tao lang kailangan kong sabihan diyan. Huwag muna ngayon (and everyone I need to speak to. Not now. No — no increase in contributions,” said President Duterte.
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President Duterte vowed to the public that he will search for funding to ensure that PhilHealth services remain in place.
“I will look for the money to fill it up. Maghanap tayo ng pera (Let’s look for money). Anyway, that is the job of the government to make it easy for everybody at this time, I said, of our lives,” furthered President Duterte.
Last week, PhilHealth announced its plan to push through with the scheduled contribution rate adjustment this year to ensure sufficient funding for its healthcare beneficiaries as per reports from the Philippine News Agency.
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The premium is supposed to increase 3.50 percent of monthly basic salary from the current 3 percent which means that those earning below PHP10,000 will have a fixed contribution of PHP350 a month starting January 2021 while those earning PHP70,000 and higher per month will pay a fixed rate of PHP2,450 monthly.
Under the UHC law, the premium rate shall increase to increments of 0.5 percent every year starting 2021 until it reaches 5 percent in 2025.
