The Governance Commission for Government-Owned and -Controlled Corporations (GCG) has ordered the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) to submit data on the effects of the hike suspension on its financials and operations.
The GCG said in a statement yesterday the requested data will be used as an additional reference in the evaluation of PhilHealth’s performance.
“With its commitment to align with the administration’s transparency agenda, the Governance Commission strives to ensure that the GOCC sector, in this case PhilHealth, is fully compliant with the President’s directives,” Alex Quiroz, GCG chairperson, said.
President Marcos Jr. earlier suspended an increase in contribution rates of PhilHealth that was set to start this month.
In a memorandum signed by Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin, PhilHealth was informed to suspend the scheduled increase of the premium rate from 4 percent to 4.5 percent and the income ceiling from P80,000 to P90,000.
The scheduled increase was based on Section 10 of Republic Act No. 11223 or the Universal Health Care Act that aims to raise the PhilHealth contribution until it reaches 5 percent by 2024.
Monthly contributions would have increased to P450 from P400 for those earning P10,000 a month.
The increase in premium rate started in 2020 at 3 percent and was supposed to be followed by a hike to 3.5 percent in 2021, to 4 percent in 2022 and to 4.5 percent in 2023.
In 2021, PhilHealth suspended the rate hike of 3 percent to 3.5 percent due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
In 2022, PhilHealth raised the contributions to 4 percent or P400 for those earning P10,000 and below, between P400 and P3,200 for those earning between P10,000.01 to P79,999.99, and P3,200 for those earning P80,000 and above.
The Governance Commission, as the central advisory, oversight and monitoring body for GOCCs, monitors and evaluates the operations of GOCCs to be transparent and responsive to the needs of the public.
