House ready to review UHC Act amid PhilHealth premiums hike concerns

Speaker Lord Allan Velasco. INQUIRER file photo / NIÑO JESUS ORBETA

MANILA, Philippines — House Speaker Lord Allan Velasco said Tuesday the lower chamber is ready to review the provisions of the Universal Health Care Act, particularly those concerning the premium contribution increase.

Velasco made the remark as he welcomed President Rodrigo Duterte’s order to postpone the scheduled PhilHealth member contributions increase due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“The House of Representatives is ready to review the Universal Health Care Act and its Implementing Rules and Regulations, particularly the provisions on incremental premium rate hike for direct PhilHealth contributors,” Velasco said in a statement.

“We urge the PhilHealth and the Department of Health to work closely with the legislature to ensure that our citizens and hardworking Filipinos will not further be exposed to this unnecessary burden while still grappling with the pandemic,” he added.

Republic Act No. 11223 or the Universal Health Care Act which mandates increases in member premiums by increments of 0.5 percent every year, starting 2021 until it reaches the 5-percent limit in 2025.

For 2021, the premium rate is scheduled to increase to 3.5 percent of the monthly basic salary, from the 2020 rate of 3 percent.

Marikina Rep. Stella Luz Quimbo on Tuesday filed a measure granting the President power to suspend the implementation of the scheduled PhilHealth contribution increase “when public interest so requires” such as times of national emergencies.

“Subsequent scheduled increases in contributions shall be adjusted to fall on the years following the lifting of the suspension,” Quimbo’s bill states.

A number of House lawmakers also filed a joint resolution urging the both houses of Congress to defer the implementation of the premium rate contribution of the PhilHealth for the year 2021.

JPV