PhilHealth welcomes probe on hike in premiums

MANILA, Philippines - The Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) welcomed a congressional investigation on the adjustment of its premium for members that took effect on Jan. 1.

PhilHealth president and chief executive officer Alexander Padilla said they are prepared to justify the new rates. He said its implementation has actually been overdue by two years.

“The issue had been announced two years ago. We welcome an investigation and I think we can explain to them why we had to adjust our premium,” Padilla said. 

PhilHealth had doubled the annual premium from P1,200 to P2,400 starting this year. 

Various sectors, however, criticized the move saying PhilHealth should be the primary beneficiary of the incremental revenues from sin taxes.

Padilla said PhilHealth is only implementing provisions in the National Health Insurance Act of 2013 which states that the lowest contribution rate, and it should be for the poor, should be P2,400 annually. 

This means there should be no other sector or individuals should be paying less than P2,400, he said.

Padilla said such premium payment has already been implemented for the 5.2 million indigent families two years ago under PhilHealth’s “sponsored program.”

These are the families certified by the Department of Social Welfare and Development as “poorest of the poor.” Their PhilHealth premium is being paid by the government, he said.

This year, the coverage of the sponsored program had been expanded to cover a total of 14.7 million poor families, Padilla said. Padilla added the premium adjustment is required if PhilHealth wants to increase the benefit packages of its members and their families.