Press Release
January 5, 2021

POE FILES BILL TO SUSPEND PHILHEALTH PREMIUM CONTRIBUTION INCREASE

Sen. Grace Poe has filed Senate Bill No. 1968 that seeks to suspend the scheduled 3.5-percent increase this year in Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) premium contributions.

Co-authors include Sens. Miguel Zubiri, Joel Villanueva, Nancy Binay and Sherwin Gatchalian.

"It's simply inhumane to apply an increase in contributions for healthcare services when we are right in the middle of a health crisis. Especially since there are many irregularities that PhilHealth hasn't answered for yet," stressed Poe.

It was only a few months ago when PhilHealth was exposed for its alleged fraudulent and corrupt activities amounting to roughly P15 billion. The Senate panel then found a long list of irregularities including the improper and illegal implementation of the Interim Reimbursement Mechanism and the gross overpricing and anomalous proposals in the procurement of the information technology system, just to name a few.

"Universal healthcare is the dream for every Filipino. At a time when we need it the most, it's unsettling to think that there are a few who are benefiting from the misery of many," said Poe.

It was also recently reported that PhilHealth has failed to pay the Philippine Red Cross on time for their service of conducting free COVID-19 testing across the country.

"Our goal is still to achieve universal healthcare for every Filipino. We're just hitting the pause button for now because we can't justify taking more from our countrymen and women who have experienced salary cuts already," Poe said.

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