PhilHealth was recently being criticized for their exorbitant premiums for Overseas Filipino Workers (OFW), something that they can’t actually use because they are living outside the country most of the time.
This increase was hugely objected to by Albay 2nd District Rep. Jose S. Salceda. In his welcome statement, he is eager to push for new legislation that will implement a comprehensive reform on PhilHealth.
It was recently announced that OFW PhilHealth’s contribution can go as high as P38,400. Salceda didn’t like the idea.
“FFW is one with Salceda’s proposal to reform the healthcare system, exempt OFWs from contributions, or make OFW contributions voluntary,” says Salceda.
It can be recalled that PhilHealth will be implementing a mandatory membership for all OFWs, an instruction that was suspended in 2020.
According to the Circular 2020-0014, the premium percentage will be based on the income of OFWs together with the income floor and income ceiling line under the provisions of the Republic Act 11223 also known as the Universal Health Care (UHC) Act.
The said issuance started with a raise of 2.75 in 2019 and another 4% this year.
“When they (Congress) [drafted] the bill, they did it without consultation in Qatar about the Universal Health Care; not with the Filipino community here,” Salceda said.
Source BusinessMirror
