Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, August 11) — Philippine Health Insurance Corporation officials said the agency recorded higher collections this year from the previous year, but government subsidy is still needed to support its operations.
Renato Limsiaco, PhilHealth senior vice president for the fund management sector, said on Tuesday that premium collections during the period amounted to ₱41.49 billion, up by more than 0.25 percent from the previous year.
Moreover, he noted that actual collections in the first semester reached ₱67.7 billion as of end-June, which includes ₱26.1 billion received from the national government.
For July, collections totaled ₱7.5 billion, which Limsiaco said is almost the same as the February 2020 collections.
PhilHealth chief Ricardo Morales noted that the increase, more specifically during the first quarter, was due to higher premium rate as prescribed under the Universal Healthcare Law.
Also known as the Republic Act no. 11223, the law increased premium rates to three percent from 2.75 percent this year. This measure aims to provide affordable and adequate healthcare to Filipinos.
PhilHealth sources 60 percent of its funds from these contributions, while 40 percent comes from other sources like sin taxes and subsidy from the government.
The Senate already increased the agency’s allocation for UHC appropriations to ₱74 billion from ₱67 billion under the 2020 National Expenditure Program.
However, Limsiaco said they still need assistance from the government when asked by Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon. This is for them to surely address the needs of their clients, he said.
On August 4, PhilHealth Acting Senior Vice President Nerissa Santiago said that the state firm may lose its reserve funds by 2021 due to expected decreased collections and increase in payouts amid the COVID-19 crisis.
READ: PhilHealth may lose reserve funds by 2021 – official
She said this means that PhilHealth may stop operations by 2022.
