PHILIPPINE Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) said on Tuesday that it expects the more than 6 million elderly in the country to become its lifetime members in line with the government’s thrust to provide adequate social services and protection to the Filipino elderly population.
At the sidelines of a forum on social-protection programs for the elderly in Mandaluyong City, PhilHealth President and CEO Alexander A. Padilla told the BusinessMirror that they hope to achieve such goal once the bill seeking to grant mandatory PhilHealth for all elderly will be ratified into law with implementing rules and regulations (IRRs) in the first quarter of next year.
While they welcome the development on such bill that has just passed the Senate’s third reading, he said that they are keen on joining in the series of consultive sessions for the upcoming law’s IRRs.
About 1.45 million seniors, representing almost 2 percent of the total membership count of PhilHealth, are lifetime members and dependents on record as of June 2014.
These beneficiaries of the Lifetime Member Program (LMP) are provided with PhilHealth coverage for life, sans having to pay any premium anymore.
Those who are 60 years old and have already made a 10-year or 120 monthly contributions to the National Health Insurance Program can apply for the LMP, according to Padilla.
He clarified, though, that those who are still employed even at retirement age are not yet qualified.
The PhilHealth chief estimated that the coverage of the entire elderly population could cost the government over P14.4 billion for their premium contributions.
Such amount, he said, will be funded by the “sin” tax collection from tobacco and alcohol products.
While the law is not yet enacted, he said that PhilHealth still gets “incremental budget” from the national government.
The state-run health-care financing institution, together with the Department of Social and Welfare and Development, Social Security System and the Government Service Insurance System, also signed a manifesto that promotes the effective provision of adequate social services and protection to the country’s citizenry, particularly the poor and the elderly.
This ceremonial signing highlighted the observance of the “Linggo ng Katandaang Pilipino,” an annual commemoration during the first week of October devoted for the elderly in the Philippines in accordance with Presidential Proclamation 470, Series of 1994.