DOH backs amendments to PhilHealth premium, budget computation

Department of Health (DOH) (File Photo: Department of Health (Philippines)/Facebook)

By Joyce Ann L. Rocamora, Philippine News Agency

MANILA – The Department of Health (DOH) affirmed its support to the proposed amendments to the Universal Health Care (UHC) Act as the House of Representatives passes House Bill (HB) 11357 on second reading Tuesday.

Health Secretary Teodoro Herbosa specifically welcomed the amendment introduced by Acting Committee on Appropriations Chair Marikina City 2nd District Rep. Stella Luz Quimbo that would require the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) to compute its budget and salaries based not on how much it would collect, but how much it would pay in benefits.

“President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr., himself being a former provincial governor, knows that the heart of UHC is where operations is. His broad national perspective rooted in local government implementation is what inspires the DOH as we actively support both the House of Representatives and the Senate in improving our UHC Act,” he said Wednesday.

“We look forward to seeing this measure become law soon,” he added.

HB 11357, known as “An Act Strengthening the Philippine Healthcare System to Achieve Efficiency and Equity, and to Improve Public Health Emergency Preparedness,” contains a series of proposed amendments to the almost six-year-old UHC or Republic Act 11223.

Its counterpart Senate Bill 2620 passed the upper chamber on third and final reading last Aug. 27. It will become a law once reconciled with SB 2620 and approved by the Chief Executive.

The House-proposed amendments include setting the premium contribution rates for all PhilHealth members at 3.5 percent from the current five percent rate, which would be adjusted on an annual basis based on actuarial studies to be reviewed by a non-government, impartial, and credible independent body and approved by Congress during the budget process.

Migrant workers, whether land- or sea-based, would also no longer have to pay any premiums. Their employers would be required to shoulder 50 percent of what their due is while the national government shoulders the rest.

The administrative expenses including salaries of PhilHealth would be set at a maximum of 7.5 percent of its total benefit payments from the previous year, instead of 7.5 percent of its total premium collections.

Component cities and municipalities would also be allowed to establish and/or maintain their own Special Health Funds, with guidelines to be developed by the DOH in consultation with the Department of Budget and Management and the UHC Coordinating Council (UHC-CC).

In addition, a new UHC-CC would be formed with existing officials as members, co-chaired by the Secretary of Health and the Secretary of the Interior and Local Government.

HB 11357 was authored and sponsored by Committee on Health Chair Rep. Ciriaco Gato, Jr. (Lone District of Batanes) along with 67 other co-authors.

It consolidates 26 house bills filed on the same subject. Quimbo introduced 13 individual amendments to the measure on the floor, all of which the sponsor and the majority accepted.