(Eagle News) — The Philippine House of Representatives has passed two bills granting to President Rodrigo Duterte the power to suspend the scheduled increases in member contributions to the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) and Social Security System (SSS) “in times of national emergencies” such as the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Lower House approved on third and final reading House Bill (HB) Nos. 8461 and 8512 principally authored by Speaker Lord Allan Velasco.
Congress said that the two bills would allow the President, in consultation with the Secretaries of the Department of Health and the Department of Finance as ex-officio chairpersons of PhilHealth and SSS, respectively, “to suspend the implementation of the scheduled increases in premium rates in times of national emergencies when public interest so requires.”
-Bills to benefit 30M Philhealth contributors, SSS paying members-
The passage came less than a month after the bills were filed. These are seen to benefit some 30 million PhilHealth direct contributors and 37.7 million SSS paying members.
On Jan. 4, President Duterte said that he wants to suspend the Philhealth hike because the pandemic was not the time to increase 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 on Jan. 4.
Velasco said he agreed with this.
“Since Filipinos have barely recovered from losses and difficulties brought by COVID-19 and given the urgency of the matter, we believe that empowering the President to suspend the scheduled increases in PhilHealth and SSS contribution rates is the most prudent action we can take to give our people much-needed relief from the negative effects of the pandemic,” Velasco said.
In data released by the Philippine Congress, PhilHealth’s registered direct contributors include 14.34 million workers employed by the private sector, 8.44 self-employed, 3.6 million overseas Filipino workers, and 2.33 million government workers.
Marikina City 2nd District Rep. Stella Luz Quimbo, one of the 60 co-authors of HB 8461, said Philhealth is projected to incur P12 billion in foregone collection. It has a P163-billion reserve fund that is sufficient to address any cash flow issue and cushion the deferment of premium rate hike.
HB 8461 provides that “subsequent scheduled increase in contributions shall be adjusted to fall on the years following the lifting of the suspension.”
The bill amends Republic Act 11223 or the Universal Health Care (UHC) Act that imposes an annual increase in premium rates from 2019 to 2025.
Under the UHC law, premium rates are supposed to be increased this year from 3 percent to 3.5 percent.
Members earning below P10,000 per month will pay a fixed monthly premium rate of P350 while those earning P70,000 per month or higher will have a fixed monthly rate of P2,450. The monthly premium rate of contributors earning between P10,000 and P70,000 will be computed at 3.5 percent.
Meanwhile, HB 8512 seeks to amend RA 11199, otherwise known as the Social Security Act of 2018, which mandates a raise in the share of SSS contributions of employers and employees to 8.5 percent and 4.5 percent, respectively.
Velasco explained that this will help the workforce recover faster amid the virus pandemic.
“We are witnesses to the negative impact of this pandemic. Under this pretext, the sovereign government must be given the prerogative to bend the rules of the social security law in favor of the greater good,” he said in a statement.
(With a release from the Philippine House of Representatives)