President Duterte ordered PhilHealth to defer the membership contribution increase
President Rodrigo Duterte on Monday night ordered the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth) to defer the 2021 membership contribution increase.
In his weekly address, President Duterte said that there would be no increase in membership contributions amidst the coronavirus pandemic.
President Duterte also said that he would look for the money in order to fill it up, adding that the job of the government was “to make it easy” for the people, especially during the coronavirus pandemic.
“There is a mode to increase the contribution of members. At this time of our life, may I just suggest to PhilHealth chairman, si Dante Gierran, at ‘yung lahat na, wag muna ngayon. No increase in contributions. I will look for the money to fill it up. Maghanap tayo ng pera. Anyway, that is the job of the government: to make it easy for everybody at this time of our lives,” President Duterte said.
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Senator Christopher “Bong” Go earlier said that President Duterte had expressed his willingness to sign any paper that would allow the deferment of the membership contribution increase, which was mandated by the Universal Health Care (UHC) law.
According to Senator Go, the Department of Budget and Management was looking into whether the Philippine government could augment the amount needed by the state health insurer in order for its services to remain unaffected by the deferment of the membership contribution increase.
PhilHealth member contributions were supposed to increase to 3.5% from 3% in order to ensure sufficient funding for the healthcare benefits of its members as mandated by the Universal Health Care Law.
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