CEBU CITY, Philippines — The Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHeath) will increase the premium that they are collecting from their members starting January this year.
Dina Cinchez, Public Information Officer of PhilHealth in Cebu City, said that they would be collecting 2.75 percent from the monthly income of their members coming from the formal sector or employed members in 2019.
Cinchez said that they would be increasing the monthly premium to 3 percent starting January 1, 2020.
Aside from this, PhilHealth will also increase the ceiling of salary or income from P50,000 to P60,000 per month this year. The floor income will remain at P10,000 per month.
This means that the premium that they will be collecting from their employed members will now range from P300 to P1,800 per month.
Although, for their employed members, Cinchez said the company will be paying half of the amount as their counterpart.
“Ang mostly affected ra gyud ani mao kadtong mga trabahante nga dagko og income kay mosaka pod ang ilang premium,” Cinchez said.
Those, who would mostly be affected by this would be the workers with big income because their premium would also increase.)
Aside from this, on December 7, 2019, the agency has also revised the scheme on the premium contribution for their voluntary members.
If before, PhilHealth is only collecting a quarterly contribution of P600 and P900 per quarter to its voluntary members, now the agency will be requiring its members to submit a proof of their income, such as income tax return (ITR) from the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) where their monthly premium or contribution will be based.
The agency will also be collecting three percent from the income of its members this year from 2.75 percent in December.
“Sa informal economy man gud, sila tanan maoy mobaguod sa rate, unlike sa employed nga naay counterpart ang employer,” she added.
(In the informal sector, they are the ones paying the rate unlike in the employed sector because the employer would be their counterpart.)
Cinchez said that the increase on the premium would continue until 2025 until they could achieve the 5 percent imposable premium to its members based on the Republic Act (R.A.) No. 7875 or the National Health Insurance act./dbs