Higher Philhealth fees cover those earning P8K or less, OFWs, others
FILE PHOTO
MANILA, Philippines—The Philippine Health Insurance Corp. clarified on Wednesday that only members belonging to selected sectors have been affected by the adjustments in premium contributions, contrary to some reports in the media.
At the Fernandina forum in San Juan City on Wednesday, Rodolfo del Rosario Jr., officer in charge of the PhilHealth’s corporate communications unit said that adjusted premium contributions would cover those earning P8,000 and below, the informal sector, and land-based overseas Filipino workers.
For those earning P8,000 and below, he said the P175 monthly contribution has been “adjusted” to P200 per month.
The new figure, he said, would be shouldered on a 50-50 basis by the employer and the employee, as was the case prior to the adjustment.
“So P100 po ang binabayad (ngayon) ng employees (earning P8,000 and below) per month,” he said.
On the other hand, the contributions of PhilHealth members of the informal sector, such as ambulant vendors, among others, he said, have been adjusted from P150 per month to P200 per month.
Only land-based OFWs who are members of PhilHealth, he added, would have to pay P2,400 on a yearly basis, double their previous yearly contribution of P1200 before the rate adjustments.
According to Del Rosario, the “adjustments” had to be made for compliance with the law that said that the lowest contributions of the employed sector should not be less than those of the indigent members, or the poorest of the poor.
He said that since 2011, each indigent member’s contribution was pegged at P200 per month, or P2,400 per year “already.”
“That’s why we made the adjustments,” he said, adding this (the adjustment) was even less than the maximum 5 percent of the basic compensation PhilHealth was allowed to make under the law.
According to Del Rosario, PhilHealth members who were earning more than P8,000 would pay the same premiums they paid years before.
He said sea-based OFWs, such as seafarers, would also still pay their contributions based on their premium employment schedules.
He said PhilHealth packages have been improving even before the contribution rate adjustments, with the agency paying an “unprecedented” P62 billion in benefit payments in 2013.
Kidney transplants up to P600,000 are now covered by PhilHealth, while its poor members could avail of the agency’s “no-balance billing” that now cover “all kinds of diseases”– not just the 23 it covered before, according to Del Rosario.
OFWs who got sick abroad but were covered by their health insurance provider there could still recover the benefits due them from PhilHealth, he added.
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