(Eagle News) — The bicameral conference committee has approved a reconciled version of the Senate and House of Representatives Universal Health Care bills.
Under the reconciled Senate Bill No. 1896 and House Bill No. 5784, Senator JV Ejercito, principal author and sponsor of the Senate’s version, said the funds for Filipinos’ health services would be sourced from the incremental sin tax collections.
He said 50 percent of the national government share will come from the income of the Philippine Gaming Corporation.
Ejercito said other sources are the 40 percent of the Charity Fund, net of Documentary Stamp Tax Payment, and mandatory contributions of the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office, premium contributions of members, annual appropriations of the Department of Health, and the national government subsidy to PhilHealth included in the General Appropriations Act (GAA).
The funds, he said, shall be transferred to PhilHealth and would be used to improve its benefit packages.
“The DOH, in coordination with PhilHealth, may also request Congress to appropriate supplemental funding to meet the targeted milestone of the UHC Act,” he said.
“This is a historic day and everybody is happy. We just need to ratify the measure and then, hopefully, maipadala sa Office of the President for review and for President Duterte to sign it into law,” he added. Meanne Corvera
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