House panel moves to amend UHC law to delist OFWs as direct PhilHealth contributors

The joint House panel on Public Accounts and the Good Government and Public Accountability has moved to remove Overseas Filipino Workers from the list of direct contributors to the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth) under the Universal Healthcare law.

Presiding officer and Representative Michael Defensor of Anakalusugan party-list carried the motion to amend the law made by representative Dan Fernandez.

The amendment to the UHC would delist OFWs as direct contributors via inserting a line which tasks the PhilHeath and the Labor department and attached agencies to issue a separate circular on a PhilHealth payment scheme for OFWs in full consideration of the Filipino migrant workers’ peculiar employment situation and a scheme that is responsive to their needs while ensuring maximum medical coverage.

Prior to the adoption of the said motion, OFW rights advocate Susan Ople noted that it would be unfair for the government to burden OFWs, who are largely breadwinners, with PhilHealth contributions at par with employees in the Philippines who have far better working and family conditions.

“Sa OFWs po, sila lang [ang nagbabayad ng contribution]. Paano po kapag kasambahay na P20,000 ang suswelduhin sa isang buwan, minsan delayed pa, makiki-share pa ba ang PhilHealth roon?” Ople, who heads non-profit unit Ople Center which helps OFWs in distress, said during the hearing.

“Ang mga domestic workers po sa Kuwait, Lebanon, kadalasan sila po ang tanging source of income ng buong angkan. Siguro naman po maiintindihan naman ng PhilHealth na mahirap po maka-comply [ang OFWs], lalo na by 2024 to 2025 na mas malaki na ang contribution,” Ople added.

Ople said that the best time to amend UHC law is now, considering that the law is yet to be fully implemented at this point.

“Bagsak po ang deployment, OFWs are barely hanging on their jobs, sa Saudi Arabia po, 40% ang wage cut sa foreign workers. I don’t think the IRR [of the UHC] is aligned with the intention of our legislators,” Ople pointed out.

At present, the UHC requires all OFWs to pay PhilHealth premium contributions.

Protests from OFWs in May, however, have prompted President Rodrigo Duterte in  to issue an order stating that such payment of  PhilHealth premiums for OFWs should be voluntary instead of mandatory.

Under the law, direct contributors, including OFWs, are obliged to pay 2.75% of their income as PhilHealth contribution for the year 2019.

The 2.75% PhilHeath premium rate, however, increases on a yearly basis as follows: 

• 3% for 2020
• 3.5% for 2021
• 4% for 2022
• 4.5% for 2023
• 5% for 2024 and
• 5% for 2025.

— BM, GMA News