THE Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) is eyeing to increase premium allotment and resume full benefit coverage for all senior citizens next year, a lawmaker said on Wednesday.
Party-list Rep. Milagros Aquino-Magsaysay of Senior Citizen said PhilHealth officials informed her that they are planning to increase the premium allotment for senior citizens from P3,120 to P5,000 per patient in 2019.
“For fiscal year 2019, the government intends to subsidize all of these premium payments via the 2019 national budget, from the proceeds of sin taxes, as mandated by law,” said Aquino-Magsaysay in a statement.
According to the lawmaker, PhilHealth’s total budget allotment request of P27.177 billion for the coverage of citizens in 2019 and P20.628 billion for the debts to senior citizens from 2014 to 2016 will be presented to the Department of Budget and Management (DBM).
Also, the lawmaker said recently appointed PhilHealth OIC President Dr. Roy Ferrer has also vowed to fully implement the primary care benefits packages for senior citizens, as mandated by the Mandatory PhilHealth Coverage for Senior Citizens Act, or RA 10645, in a meeting.
Following the recent controversy with poor budget allocation by former PhilHealth OIC President Celestina Ma. Jude de la Serna, Aquino-Magsaysay said that this is a positive and responsive action by the new leadership and hopes the DBM will support the changes planned by PhilHealth.
“I promised Dr. Ferrer that I will fight for their budget proposal in 2019 in Congress so that they can provide improved health services for senior citizens who are automatically members of PhilHealth,” Aquino-Magsaysay said.