(Eagle News) – President Rodrigo Duterte directed the suspension of increase in contributions to the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (Philhealth) saying this is not the proper time for this.
Duterte said that he had already directed Philhealth chief Dante Gierran not to implement the scheduled hike this year of Philhealth contributions.
“There is a move to increase the contribution ng mga members. At this time of our life, may I just suggest to the PhilHealth chairman, si Dante Gierran at saka ‘yung si — lahat na — isang tao lang kailangan kong sabihan diyan. Huwag muna ngayon. No — no increase in contributions,” the President said in his Talk to the People at around midnight last night.
President Duterte said that he would “look for the money” that is needed by Philhealth to implement provisions of the Universal Health Care Act of 2019.
“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, I said, of our lives. Inabutan tayo nito which was once in every century lang siguro ‘to, hindi pa nga,” he explained,
Earlier, Senator Christopher “Bong” Go pushed for the deferment of the Philhealth hike in contributions in light of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“While I recognize that this increase is mandated by law, we must explore all possible legal remedies to avoid any additional burden to Filipinos at this time when we are still addressing the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Go who is also the chair of the Senate Committee on Health.
Go also encouraged government finance managers and fellow legislators to work together and explore options for deferring or restructuring payment terms and rates of various financial obligations in accordance with existing laws.
“Pwede nating pag aralan na i-amend ‘yung law or i-defer natin ito through a provision in Bayanihan 3. Kung magpasa tayo ng Bayanihan 3, pwede pong ma-identify ng gobyerno doon sa batas kung ano ang pwedeng i-defer muna while nasa pandemic pa tayo,” he explained in his statement.
(Eagle News Service)