OFW PhilHealth Coverage
PHILHEALTH CIRCULAR TINADTAD NG BATIKOS, MGA MAMBABATAS NAGBIGAY NG MGA SOLUSYON
· FORTUN: Bangko Sentral, DoF should help PhilHealth find ways to fund OFWs health insurance.
· GARBIN: Paunang bayad dapat ‘di lampas P1,000; ang balanse mula sa bente pesos kada padala
· TULFO: Amyendahan ang Universal Health Care Law, wala dapat pilitan sa OFW contribution
Tatlong mambabatas ang naghayag sa PhilHealth na dapat bawiin at baguhin ang kanilang memorandum patungkol sa health insurance coverage ng Overseas Filipinos Workers.
Mungkahi nina Rep. Lawrence Fortun at Rep. Alfredo Garbin Jr. na rebisahin ng PhilHealth ang kanilang kautusan.
Sa pananaw naman ni Congresswoman Jocelyn P. Tulfo dapat naman maging OFW-friendly ang PhilHealth.
Sa pananaw ni Agusan del Norte Congressman Lawrence Fortun sobrang taas ng installment payment rates, kaya dapat babaan ito sa pamamagitan ng ilang paraan.
Natataasan din si Rep. Garbin (AKO BICOL Party-list) sa rates kaya nais niyang mas gawin pang utay-utay ang bayad kaysa sa nakasaad sa circular.
PHILHEALTH SABLAY NA SA COMPUTATION, SABLAY PA SA PAGPAPALIWANAG
"I ask the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas to help out PhilHealth considering that billions of dollars in remittances are supporting the country’s economy," suhestiyon ni Fortun.
"PhilHealth must recompute the schedule of contributions for OFWs so that its affordability will encourage registration and contributions," ani Fortun.
Dagdag ni Fortun: "A pre-departure registration fee of perhaps P500 would be much more agreeable than a hefty P2,400 payment. The payment of the balance must also be spread out more thinly to make the contributions affordable.”
Maaaring magkaroon ng employer’s share at recruiter’s share sa contributions para tatlo na silang maghahati sa pagbabayad kaya mas gagaan at hindi mararamdaman ng OFW ang premium.
Pinuna rin ni Fortun na hindi ipinaliwanag at hindi binigyang-diin ng PhilHealth sa circular nila na para rin sa OFW dependents ang PhilHealth coverage.
"The PhilHealth circular also fails to consider that not all OFWs may be getting health insurance coverage in their host countries for various reasons. Yes, some OFWs have health insurance overseas, but not all of them and perhaps more are not covered than those covered," ani Fortun.
Diin pa ni Fortun na memo circular ng Philhealth ang may problema at hindi ang Republic Act 11223.
"The actuaries of PhilHealth should recompute and keep in mind that the numbers they crunch represent lives of human beings, not inanimate objects," puna ni Fortun.
Dagdag ni Fortun na maaaring basehan ang COVID-19 crisis para suspindihin muna ang circular habang nirerebisa ito.
"The PhilHealth advisory on payment delays also applies to OFWs…The PhilHealth should seek the technical assistance of the Department of Finance and the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas on creative ways to implement," aniya.
HETO ANG MAGAAN at DOABLE:
BENTE PESOS FEE KADA PADALA AT ONE-TIME P1,000 FEE
Mula naman kay Congressman Garbin, dalawang paraan ang pwedeng solusyon sa sitwasyon ngayon.
"Instead, I propose a two-step method. First step is a one-time pre-departure PhilHealth membership fee of just P1,000.00 to be advanced by the licensed recruitment agency or ship manning agency or 50 percent subsidized by the OWWA. The second step is a simple P20 (bente pesos only) fee deducted from every remittance or money transfer of any amount," ani Garbin.
"The membership fee and the P20 money transfer charge are credited to the PhilHealth account of the OFW member. Before documented OFWs leave the country, their Filipino recruitment or manning agency must register them into PhilHealth. These methods I propose are simple, doable, and minimally taxing ways on the hard-earned income of OFWs," paliwanag nI Garbin.
LEGISLATIVE SOLUTION NI TULFO
Gumagawa na ng panukalang batas si Tulfo para ma-amyendahan ang Universal Health Care Law.
"Even though curative legislation is in the works, I am hoping the PhilHealth takes the faster option of following the more OFW friendly policy through the amendment of Philhealth Memorandum Circular 2020-0014," ani Tulfo.
"Perhaps some sort of partial or full government subsidy by OWWA or other creative means may be used to cover the cost of PhilHealth coverage," suhestiyon ni Tulfo. (WAKAS)
OMNIBUS RELEASE – 0917729243
Rep. Lawrence Fortun – Agusan del Norte 1st District
Rep. Alfredo Garbin, Jr. – AKO BICOL Party-list
Rep. Jocelyn Tulfo – ACT-CIS Party-list