OFWs slam planned 150% hike in Philhealth premiums

OFWs slam planned 150% hike in Philhealth premiums

By INA ALLECO R. SILVERIO
Bulatlat.com
MANILA — Overseas Filipino workers and their families are up against what they say is yet another ploy to milk them for money: a whopping 150 percent increase in health insurance premiums.

Migrante International and its chapters in Hong Kong and the Middle East have issued declarations against the announcement recently made by the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation or Philhealth Board that it will raise Philhealth premiums effective July 2012.

The board recently issued Circular No. 022 imposing the 150-percent hike in premium fees to the National Health Insurance Program (NHIP). It will affect all members and enrollees of Philhealth, including OFWs.
Premiums from members will increase to P600 (US$13.95) from P300 (US$6.97) a quarter, or an annual premium of P2,400 (US$55.81). This was explained as a way to offer better benefits for members and to achieve the goal of universal health care.

The new policy is expected to cover all agency-new hires as the Philhealth is a requirement for the Overseas Employment Contract, and overseas professionals.

Migrante chairman Garry Martinez said that OFWs are outraged by scheduled premium increase policy, saying that they are already burdened with many tax impositions. He said that the Benigno Aquino administration has already slashed budgetary expenditures for OFW services, but it continues to charge other questionable fees on OFWs without implementing proper consultation processes with the sector and other stakeholders.

The migrant group staged a picket protest in front of the Philhealth main office in Pasay on Friday, January 13. It has also launched an online petition campaign to oppose the premium hike.


Martinez said that they are also studying allegations that the Philhealth premium may also be a direct violation of Republic Act 8042, as amended by RA 10022, which prohibits increases in government fees for services rendered to OFWs and their dependents.

The migrant leader said that aside from being an unjustified and arbitrary state exaction, the Philhealth premium betrays the true nature of the Aquino administration’s overall economic program in the coming years.

“As we see it, in lieu of implementing direct taxation on the people which are immediately and easily opposed by the public, the government is resorting to schemes that intend to earn direct revenue from the people through fee hikes and impositions on government services and by government owned and controlled corporations like the Philhealth,” he said.

No consultations with OFWs 

In Hong Kong, the United Filipinos in Hong Kong (UNIFIL-HK) said that the news of increased premiums is also most unwelcome to OFWs in the special administrative region.

Unifil chairwoman Dolores Balladares said that the government had previously forced OFWs to become mandatory Philhealth members.

“Now it’s again forcing us to pay higher premiums. This is an added to all OFWs. We’re already burdened by so many financial requirements such as the illegal recruitment fees of recruitment agencies. Many of us are also buried in debt to trying repay loans made to financing agencies,” she pointed out.

She also expressed fear that the increased fun in PhilHealth will only be used for corruption.

“There are still a lot of controversies surrounding PhilHealth and how it’s being run. Among these is the issue of bogus claims being funded. What happened to the P530 million (US$ 123,255.81) transferred from the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration Medicare account to the electoral coffers of ex-president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo? OFWs are war that increasing Philhealth’s funds will lead to worsened corruption in the agency,” she said..... MORE

Source: Bulatlat.com

URL: http://bulatlat.com/main/2012/01/13/ofws-slam-planned-150-hike-in-philhealth-premiums/