EFFECTIVE this January, the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) has started collecting higher premium payments from its members.
From 4.5%, the premium payment will now be 5%.
This equates to P500 for contributors with a monthly income of P10,000.
And a deduction of P5,000 for those with a monthly income of P100,000.
However, Health Secretary Ted Herbosa wrote to President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. to suggest delaying the implementation of the increase.
“I sent a letter. So I’m just waiting for the response.”
“Yeah, I said we should consider the increase, the implementation of the increase because it has already been implemented starting January 1,” according to Health Secretary Ted Herbosa.
According to the provisions of the Universal Health Care Law, PhilHealth’s contribution was supposed to increase to 3.5% in 2021, 4% in 2022, and 4.5% in 2023.
However, in 2021, PhilHealth suspended the scheduled increase due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The state insurer stated that if the increase is postponed, they will lose P17-B from their funds in 2024.
“My stand is a continued suspension of the increase until we have the actuaries, actually. I don’t think PhilHealth will go under even if we suspend it,” Herbosa added.
As the Health Secretary, Dr. Herbosa serves as the ex officio non-voting chairman of the PhilHealth Board of Directors.
This is the highest governing body of the government-owned company.
“So the board is the one who supervises it. So it will be discussed in the board,” he added.
This year marks the latest scheduled rate increase in PhilHealth.
