Two senators believe that the implementation of the increase in contributions of the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth) and Social Security Systems (SSS) is untimely.
According to Senator Bong Go, President Rodrigo R. Duterte agrees to temporarily suspend the increase of the PhilHealth contributions amidst the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic.
Sen. Go relayed that based on their discussion, President Duterte suggested the passing of a bill to delay the increase and that the national government will provide the additional funds of PhilHealth to avoid interruptions in its service.
“Pwede nating pag-aralan na i-amend ‘yung law or i-defer natin ito through a provision in Bayanihan 3. Kung magpasa tayo ng Bayanihan 3, pwede pong ma-identify ng gobyerno doon sa batas kung ano ang pwedeng i-defer muna while nasa pandemic pa tayo (We can look into amending the law or defer it through a provision in Bayanihan 3. If we pass Bayanihan 3, the government can identify what part of the law which can be deferred while we are in a pandemic),” Sen. Go disclosed.
The PhilHealth stated that it has no power to delay the implementation of the increase which will provide funds for the assistance of the sick members or their family.
Senator Joel Villanueva has filed a bill to suspend the increase of the SSS contribution.
“Nakita po natin na kaya naman po sapagkat noong 2019 ang nakolekta ng SSS ₱220B at sa 2019 net revenue mayroon po silang ₱55.7 billion so kung ganoon lang din po, 2019 figures na lang kaya pa rin po at magus-survive naman for 1 year itong ating SSS. (We saw that the SSS collected ₱220B in 2019 and in their 2019 net revenue they had ₱55.7B, so if that’s the case, with the 2019 figures alone, the SSS is capable and can survive for 1 year.)” – Report from Kenneth Paciente
