Hold off PhilHealth rate hike, DOH pleads

Malacañang on Wednesday said President Marcos was looking into the appeal of Health Secretary Ted Herbosa to suspend the implementation of an increase in the premium rates of the state-owned Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth).

“The President is studying the request,” Presidential Communications Secretary Cheloy Garafil said in a Viber message to reporters.

Earlier, Herbosa stated that he had submitted a recommendation to the President to suspend the 5 percent premium increase on PhilHealth contributions.

“My position is that, I think PhilHealth has enough money to actually continue to give benefits. It will not be hurt by delaying the increase in premium. I need to see good actuarials on this one,” Herbosa said.

The planned 5 percent premium rate hike by 2024 is required by the Universal Health Care Law, which was signed by then-President Rodrigo Duterte in 2019.

President Marcos, however, ordered the suspension of the premium rate and income ceiling hike of PhilHealth last year, due to economic challenges brought by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Senators aired their support to Herbosa’s proposal, as Senator JV Ejercito, principal sponsor of the Universal Health Care Act, noted he filed a pending bill that seeks amendments to the act to adjust premium rates, as “we are still recovering from the pandemic.”

“We have done studies on the numbers and PhilHealth said it will not affect the benefits and packages,” noted Ejercito.

Senate Health Committee chairperson Senator Christopher Go said while the state of public health emergency due to COVID-19 pandemic had been lifted, the people still feel the negative impact of the pandemic on their lives and the country’s economy.

“For them, every peso is very important. They will use this to buy their food,” Go said. “Let us not add to their burden.”

Senator Risa Hontiveros said the deferment of the implementation of the PhilHealth premium rate hike is not only considerate, but also sensitive to the economic burdens carried by our kababayan.

Under the UHC Law, money from the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp., the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office and the so-called sin taxes will be given to PhilHealth to cover the benefits of the poor, Herbosa said.

Also under the UHC Act of 2019, PhilHealth contributions were scheduled to increase starting 2020 when a 3 percent hike was due.

It was supposed to be followed by 3.5 percent in 2021; 4 percent in 2022, 4.5 percent in 2023, until the increases hit 5 percent in 2024 to 2025.

However, these scheduled increases were suspended by Duterte due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Citing socioeconomic challenges caused by the pandemic, Marcos also suspended the increases in premium rate and income ceiling of PhilHealth for 2023.

“If ever the President will agree to the contribution, my recommendation is to start from where we stopped, not the current 5 percent. If we stopped at 2 percent or 3 percent increase, we start at where it was suspended,” Herbosa said.

“That for me is the logical way to lift the suspension. We don’t jump to a very high [percentage] because people will be affected significantly,” he said in a mix of Filipino and English.

He said while PhilHealth needs ore capital to carry out all its projects and cover all its duties, contributions from indirect members have increased through the years, from P30 billion, to P50 billion to P80 billion in 2023.

As chairperson of the PhilHealth Board of Directors, Herbosa said he would discuss these concerns with the board members on Jan. 17.

Meanwhile, party-list Reps. Ray Reyes of AnaKalusugan and Wilbert Lee, vice chair of the House committees on health, and on appropriations, appealed to the PhilHealth to immediately apply the 30 percent across-the-board increase in the agency’s offered health benefits, saying that any delay in implementing the increase is an injustice to Filipinos.

“We are saddened and disappointed that it looks like PhilHealth’s premium charge will be implemented before our long-standing call for a 30 percent increase in all the agency’s benefit packages and coverage,” they said in a statement.

“While the implementation of the increase in benefits we have been asking for is delayed, many choose to endure illness rather than seek medical treatment,” they said.

Reyes said that PhilHealth must fulfill its commitment to the Filipino people as provided by law.

PhilHealth on Friday announced that its premium rate will increase to 5 percent from the previous 4 percent. The state health insurer said that P17 billion in additional revenue of the agency would come from the increased premium rates, which would be used to expand benefits and programs it offers to members.

But in September last year, Lee said during the DOH budget briefing that PhilHealth had P466 billion worth of investible funds and P68.4 billion in net income. Given these available funds, he urged the agency to expand its health care package offered to the public.

In a letter addressed to PhilHealth President and Chief Executive Officer Emmanuel Ledesma Jr. in October 2023, Lee requested in writing to the PhilHealth management a 30 percent increase in all benefit packages and coverage provided by the corporation.

Lee also filed House Resolution 1407 in October 2023 urging PhilHealth to adjust its coverage since its case rate has not been reviewed for over a decade and is no longer responsive to the hospitalization cost of the beneficiaries.

Lee added PhilHealth should have no limit on its covered dialysis sessions, chemotherapy, heart bypass surgery, and other diagnostic tests and preventive measures to ease the burden of patients and their families.

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