UHC will be implemented – Dominguez

THE government is committed to implement the Universal Health Care (UHC) program despite the financial problems of the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth), according to Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez 3rd.

“We are fully committed to implement the UHC,” he told lawmakers during the Development Budget Coordination Committee’s briefing for the proposed $4.506-trillion national budget held at the House of Representatives on Friday.

Dominguez stressed that the government was bent on solving the financial problems of the PhilHealth, the program’s implementing agency.

“We are taking these issues of PhilHealth very seriously and this administration fully intends to put PhilHealth on a solid financial footing that will allow us to fully implement the UHC Act,” he added.

Dominguez earlier said the Department of Finance and the Insurance Commission had been working closely with PhilHealth to achieve the goal of providing universal health care to Filipinos.

He explained that PhilHealth’s financial planning and control, as well as actuarial systems were fundamental to the achievement of this goal.

“These will help plug all leakages so as to allow the funds from members’ premiums and the taxpayers to be utilized properly,” Dominguez said.

The UHC program aims to provide Filipino families equitable access to quality and affordable health care services. Under the 2020 national budget, the government allocated P175.8 billion for the program. Of this, P71.4 billion will fund the National Health Insurance Program of Philhealth.

Based on government estimates, the funding requirement for the UHC program could reach as high as P1.44 trillion combined from 2020 to 2024.

Earlier, the Finance department said P40 billion of the UHC funding was expected to be sourced from sin tax revenues, while the rest would be provided under the national budget.