Solons to call for deferment of PhilHealth premium rate hike until 2022 —Defensor

Lawmakers across party lines have jointly filed a resolution calling for the deferment of the increase in the PhilHealth contribution rate for 2021, Anakalusugan party-list Representative Mike Defensor said Tuesday.

In a virtual interview with reporters, Defensor, who serves as vice chair of the House committee on health, said the proposal to defer the PhilHealth contribution rate adjustment came up after a discussion among lawmakers on Monday.

"After our discussion yesterday, nag-post ako sa mga thread naming members of Congress. Immediately may mga 30 authors na coming from different political parties, different political influences, na nagsasama-sama kami in filing a joint resolution to defer it to 2022," he said.

"Ibig sabihin nitong 2021 wala na talagang increase, magsisimula ng 2022," he added.

Defensor then issued a filed copy of Joint Resolution No. 33 by both houses of Congress deferring the PhilHealth premium rate hike for this year, authored by 54 lawmakers at the House.

Anakalusugan Rep. Mike Defensor issues official copy of Joint Resolution No. 33 calling for the deferment of the implementation of the PhilHealth premium rate increase for 2021. pic.twitter.com/spd9qLQUDo

— Erwin Colcol (@erwincolcol) January 5, 2021

Apart from Joint Resolution No. 33, the House Makabayan Bloc separately filed another measure which also calls for the immediate suspension of the PhilHealth premium rate hike for 2021 amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

The House Makabayan Bloc also files a separate joint resolution calling for the immediate suspension of the PhilHealth premium rate hike amid the COVID-19 pandemic. pic.twitter.com/Ka27vOcv7r

— Erwin Colcol (@erwincolcol) January 5, 2021

Under the Universal Health Care (UHC) law, premium contributions to PhilHealth will increase to increments of 0.5% every year, starting 2021 until it reaches the 5% limit in 2025.

Contributions of employed members will be equally shared between employees and employers, while those of self-paying members, professional practitioners, and land-based migrant workers and other direct contributors with no employee-employer relationship are computed straight based on their monthly earnings and paid wholly by the member.

For 2021, the increase in the contribution rate would be from the current 3% of the monthly basic salary of the member to 3.5%.

However, President Rodrigo Duterte has already ordered the deferment of the PhilHealth contribution rate hike, there would be no increase in contributions amid the pandemic.

Defensor said the order of the President "will help a lot" in the call to postpone the contribution rate hike, but there is still a need to legislate it.

"Kailangan ba nila ng batas para dito? Yes. Kasi kapag dinefer mo lang naman, dine-delay mo, but eventually you will have to pay for that," he said.

Defensor believes, though, that improving the services provided by PhilHealth goes beyond imposing an increase in its contribution rate. The reforms, he said, should come from inside the state health insurer itself.

Last year, the Senate and the House separately conducted lengthy inquiries into the controversies hounding PhilHealth, which include the allegation that the "mafia" inside the state health insurer stole P15-billion worth of funds and issues related to the agency's interim reimbursement mechanism, among others.

"Cases should be filed against those who have violated the law, who have committed graft and corruption against PhilHealth, who have plundered the funds of PhilHealth as against the interest of the people. Ito yung hinihintay ng tao," Defensor said.

"Nasaan na ito? Sino yung dapat mga kasuhan kasi alam naman nila na malaking pera ang nawala at nawawala sa PhilHealth kaya nga meron talagang issue ng pagbayad dahil gusto nilang maiayos muna ang PhilHealth bago sila maibalik sa pagko-contribute para dito," he added.—AOL, GMA News