JULY 11, 2011

NR # 2462B

38M Filipino to be new beneficiaries of PhilHealth

Some 38 million poor Filipinos out of the estimated 94 million population of the country will be covered by the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth) under a consolidated bill seeking to expand the coverage of the governments health project. House Bill 4150, authored by Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. and other lawmakers, was already reported out for floor deliberation and will be calendared when Congress resumes session on July 25. Under the bill to be known as the Pinoy Health Insurance Act of 2011, health insurance identification (ID) cards will be issued to those identified as belonging to the 40% poor sector of society. Belmonte said it is the policy of the government to adopt a comprehensive approach to health development and to see to it that basic goods, health and social services are available to all people at affordable cost. However, Belmonte said that while Republic Act 7875 or the National Health Insurance Act of 1995 makes available to all citizens affordable and accessible health care coverage, access to health care remains to be a problem particularly for the poor sectors of society. The objective of the bill is to make sure that the identified indigents would be subsidized by the government and the next poorest of the poor subsidized by the local government units (LGUs), Belmonte said. The bill provides for the PhilHealth coverage of the poorest 20% of the Philippine population as identified through a means test, and payment of their premium contributions, which shall be subsidized by the government through the Department of Health (DOH). The bill will also identify the poorest 20% of the population that shall be subsidized by the LGUs. House Majority Leader Neptali Gonzales II, co-author of the bill, said the measure aims to establish a roadmap towards universal health care through a refocused and strengthened PhilHealth. It recognizes the fact that LGUs have insufficient fund sources, thus compromising the health care services that should be availed of by the poorest of the poor, Gonzales said. Rep. Alfredo Maraon III (2nd District, Negros Occidental), Chairman of the House Committee on Health, said the PhilHealth program will cover street hawkers, market vendors, pedicab and tricycle drivers, small construction workers and home-based industries and services. The bill defines an indigent as a person who has no visible means of income, or whose income is insufficient for the subsistence of his family based on specific criteria set by the national government in accordance with the guiding principles set forth in Article I of the law. Other co-authors of the bill are Reps. Marcelino Teodoro (1 st District, Marikina City), Janette Garin (1st District, Iloilo), Rep. Philip Pichay (1st District, Surigao del Sur), Deputy Speaker Lorenzo Taada III (4 th District, Quezon) and Rep. Daisy Fuentes (2nd District, South Cotabato). (30) jy