PhilHealth members to pay premium hike

by Macon Ramos-Araneta

THE members of the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation will have to shoulder a 0.25-percent increase in their premium contributions starting this month, Health Secretary Francisco Duque III said Sunday.
He said the members’ contribution rate would now be 2.75 percent from 2.5-percent of their monthly basic pay.
The increase in the members’ premium contribution is expected to double the actuarial life of the PhilHealth fund to eight-and-a-half years from four-and-a-half years, Duque told a forum in Manila.
Covered by the adjustment are the members employed in the formal economy including housemaids, family drivers, seafarers and and all employers in the government and private sector.
A PhilHealth circular says the contributions are now computed based on a salary floor of P10,000 and a ceiling of P40,000, as follows:
P275.00 for those making P10,000 and below per month, or P137.50 each from the member and employer.
P275.02 to P1,099.99 for those earning P10,000.01 to P39,999.99 per month, or P137.51 to P549.99 each from the member and employer.
P1,100 for those earning P40,000 and above per month, or P550 each from the member and employer
For a household help, the member’s contribution “shall be shouldered solely by the household employer” in line with the Domestic Workers Act unless the member is receiving a salary of P5,000 and above, in which case he or she would have to pay the proportionate share.
More than a third or P50 billion of the Department of Health’s P165-billion budget for 2018 had been allotted to finance PhilHealth, Duque said.
PhilHealth has a national coverage of 90 to 92 percent. The majority of those not covered by PhilHealth benefits are in “geographically disadvantaged areas” or far-flung or remote areas or villages.

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