Suspension of PhilHealth premium hike hailed
I support the President’s decision to suspend Philhealth’s premium hike
Senate President Miguel Zubiri, along with Senators JV Ejercito and Christopher Bong Go as well as the Department of Health welcomed the decision of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to suspend the implementation of the premium contribution increase of PhilHealth from 4 percent to 4.5 percent this year.
The Premium Contributions collected by PhilHealth are for purposes of financing the expansion of benefits in accordance with the Universal Health Care law. Changes in premium schedules will also be synched with planned benefit roll-outs.
In a statement, Zubiri said the state insurer may implement the scheduled premium rate hikes once the inflation is down at “a more comfortable level.”
“This suspension shows that the President knows and acts on the needs of our countrymen by bringing down the daily cost of expenses that everyone is burdened with, especially during this time of high inflation affecting everything from food to fuel,” he said.
“The premium rate hikes may be established after we have brought down our inflation rate at a more comfortable level in the near future,” he added.
Senator Joseph Victor “JV” Ejecito also expressed his support for the deferral of the premium rate hike this year.
“I support the President’s decision to suspend Philhealth’s premium hike,” Ejercito said in a separate statement.
“Being the principal sponsor of the UHC (Universal Health Care), we need to be sensitive also to the current circumstances and we need to adapt to the situation as we are still recovering from the pandemic,” he added.
The lawmaker stressed that the UHC aims to improve the quality of lives of the Filipino people by giving them access to good quality healthcare, and “not to be a burden.”
In a joint statement, the DoH and PhilHealth said they recognize that the moratorium is intended to help Filipinos cope with the increasing prices of commodities caused by inflation.
Such moratorium in increases in premium contributions has been done in the years 2020 and 2021 in accordance with directives from the Office of the President, and in recognition of the effects of the pandemic during those years.