Ejercito wants PhilHealth contribution hike suspended amid pandemic

Senator-elect JV Ejercito on Monday said he would propose to President-elect Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. to suspend any monthly premium increase in the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) contributions amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Ejercito, the principal sponsor and author of the Universal Health Care (UHC) Law, said he would recommend the move until the health situation in the country normalizes to help particularly the working class, including the overseas Filipino workers (OFWs).

PhilHealth earlier advised that the monthly premium contribution has been increased to 4% for 2022 as provided by the UHC Law.

The increase is retroactively effective in January 2022 and will be collected starting June.

“Gusto ko lang liwanagin na nung dina-draft natin o sinusulat natin ang UHC law ay normal ang sitwasyon no’n, napakaganda ng takbo ng ekonomiya ng Pilipinas, ng buong mundo. Kaya ‘yung mga computations niyan ay based sa sitwasyon noong panahon na ‘yun,” Ejercito said in an Unang Balita interview.

“Kaya lang we are in an emergency situation. Hindi naman natin akalain at nakita itong pandemiyang dumating, kung kaya’t we have to adapt to the situation,” he added.

(I just want to clarify that when we drafted or wrote the UHC law, the situation was normal, and the Philippine economy and the whole world were doing very well. So those computations were based on the situation at that time. Right now, we are in an emergency situation. We didn’t expect this pandemic to come, thus we have to adapt to the situation.)

Last month, PhilHealth announced it is targeting to collect P205 billion in 2022 with the increase in monthly premium contribution from 3% to 4%.

This premium rate means that those earning P10,000 and below would have to pay P400.00 monthly contribution to PhilHealth. Those earning over P10,000 but lower than P80,000 need to pay a higher monthly premium ranging between P400 and P3,200, while those earning over P80,000 would have to pay a flat rate of P3,200.

Due to this, Ejercito said that he will prioritize finishing the UHC Law once he assumes his Senate post in the 19th Congress.

“Ito ang number one priority ko na tutukan ito na maayos. Kung may mga dapat na adjustments dahil nasa second or third year na of implementation, ako na mismo ang maghahain ng amendments,” he said.

(This is my number one priority, to focus on the UHC law and fix it. If there are necessary adjustments because it is now in its second or third year of implementation, I will file the amendments myself.)

It was in February 2019 when President Rodrigo Duterte signed into law the UHC Act, which guarantees that all Filipinos will have equal access to quality and affordable goods and services in healthcare.

Officials of the Department of Health (DOH) earlier said they are ready to work closely with its next secretary to continue its implementation of the UHC agenda under the incoming administration of President-elect Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr.  —KBK, GMA News