Posted: 12 Jan 2014 01:11 AM PST
Migrants protest against the “illegal” Philhealth premium hikes last Jan. 5. (Photo courtesy: Aaron Ceradoy)Militant migrants criticized the recent 100 percent hike in Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (Philhealth) premiums as “another illegal state exaction on overseas Filipino workers (OFWs).”
“The Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) has not issued any circular or order authorizing recruitment agencies to collect the additional premium,” said Garry Martinez, chairperson of Migrante International.
The Philhealth Board recently issued an order imposing a 100 percent hike in premium fees to the National Health Insurance Program (NHIP), which will be effective this January 2014.
The hike will affect all members and enrollees of Philhealth, including overseas Filipino workers (OFWs).
Migrante also declared illegal the prior hike imposed by Philhealth on its premium, from PhP 900 to PhP 1,200. Martinez said the “illegal” hike was imposed despite the release of Philhealth Board Memorandum Circular No. 007, series of 2012, that declared the postponement of the implementation of the premium increase on OFWs “in consideration of the request of civil society and non-government organizatons to defer the implementation of said premium in light of the global crisis resulting in the repatriation of a number of OFWs.”
“In fact, agencies are only allowed to collect the PhP 900 Philhealth membership fee. This has not been amended by the POEA since the Philhealth first proposed to increase from PhP 900,” said Martinez.
The migrant leader also said that OFWs have a right to refuse paying the PhP 2,400 Philhealth premium, and complain if their agencies compell them to pay more than PhP 900.
Migrante said it supports the pending congressional hearings to investigate the proposed Philhealth premium hike. They are also mulling on taking legal action against the Philhealth and other implementing agencies imposing the hike despite its lack of legal basis.
It is also studying if the Philhealth premium hike may also be a direct violation of Republic Act 8042, as amended by RA 10022, which prohibits increases in government fees for services rendered to OFWs and their dependents.
Martinez refuted government claims that the recent Philhealth premium hike is for the thrust to “attain Universal Health Care”.
“Health care should be free. This most recent hike only illustrates how greedy for profit the government is. Meanwhile, Philhealth services for OFWs have been dismal, unreliable, and in some cases, non-existent for our OFWs,” added Martinez.
He said that OFWs are angry at most recent fee imposition, especially in light of the continuous spate of price hikes and state exactions on OFWs and the Filipino people.
“This is another form of ‘kotong’ being imposed on OFWs without proper consultation with the sector and other stakeholders,” Martinez went on.
Migrante chapters and OFWs in Hong Kong have already staged protest actions against the Philhealth premium increase. “More protests are expected worldwide,” Martinez concluded.
No comments:
Post a Comment