House Majority Leader and Leyte Rep. Martin Romualdez said the chamber will ensure the full implementation of the Universal Health Care Law by providing enough funds for the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation and increasing the budget allocation of the Department of Health.
Romualdez said the proposed P4.1 trillion national government for 2020 has allocated P67.4 billion for the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation and P92.2 billion for the Department of Health to strengthen the implementation of the Universal Health Care.
He noted that P9.4 billion was earmarked for hospitalization and assistance to indigent patients, making health services available even to low income individuals.
“With these initiatives, we are inching closer to the President’s target of lowering the poverty incidence to 20 percent three years from now from 30 percent in 2015, and for the Philippines to become an upper-middle income country by 2022,” Romualdez said.
Last February, President Rodrigo Duterte signed the law that will “guarantee equitable access to quality and affordable health care services for all Filipinos.”
Under the Universal Health Care Law Filipinos will be automatically enrolled in the National Health Insurance Program. Membership in the NHIP will be classified as “direct contributor,” or those who can pay health premiums, and “indirect contributor,” or those sponsored by the government such as indigents, senior citizens and people with disability.
The law also aims to expand the coverage of PhilHealth benefits, which included free consultation tests and other diagnostic services.
Filipinos can also avail themselves of primary health care services even if they don’t have PhilHealth identification cards.