Senator Bong Go talked about how the Universal Health Care law aims to provide equitable access to quality yet affordable healthcare aid to Filipinos.
Salamat, Mr. Chair. First, I want to thank you for leading the discussions on the bills amending the Universal Health Care Act. As the principal sponsor of the UHC law during the 17th Congress, it is befitting that Senator JV Ejercito is heading this subcommittee of the Committee on Health and Demography.
Mr. Chair, the 17th Congress passed the Universal Health Care law with the objective of ensuring that all Filipinos are guaranteed equitable access to quality and affordable health care. That is why today, all Filipinos are already considered members of PhilHealth.
To ensure sufficiency in funding and to keep the financial viability of PhilHealth, the UHC mandates a schedule of premium contribution rates which will increase not until 2025.
Mr. Chair, alam naman po natin na hindi natin inaasahan ang nangyaring pandemya at krisis na pinagdaanan natin. I am certain that when the 17th Congress included in the law the premium rate increases, no one in this Chamber knew what was about to hit us.
Marami ang nawalan ng trabaho at marami ang nagsarang mga negosyo. Sa mga ordinaryong mamamayang araw-araw na nakikipagsapalaran, ano ba ang mas mahalaga sa kanila? Ang dagdag na kontribusyon o yung mga pangunahing pangangailangan ng kanilang pamilya?
Kaya naman po tayo, bilang mga representante ng mga mamamayang Pilipino, obligasyon po nating makinig sa kanilang hinaing, ang magmalakasakit sa kanila, at gawin ang lahat maibsan lang ang bigat na kanilang dinadala sa araw araw. In this time, every single peso counts.
Mr. Chair, it is for these reasons that I endorse the bills granting the President of the Philippines the authority to suspend the scheduled increase in PhilHealth premium contribution rates specifically in times of a state of national emergency, national calamity, or public health emergency.
My proposed special provision under the PhilHealth 2023 budget indicating the use of the P21-billion budget pertaining to benefit package improvement under the Universal Health Care Act was adopted. I earlier proposed that this budget should be used for the expansion of free dialysis coverage, mental health outpatient coverage, the implementation of the comprehensive outpatient benefit package, including free medical check-ups, and other increases in benefit packages.
Maraming lumalapit po sa aming mga opisina, humihingi ng tulong para sa dialysis, humihingi ng tulong para ma-expand ang dialysis coverage ng PhilHealth. It is the reason why I filed Senate Bill 190 mandating PhilHealth to fully cover all costs of dialysis treatments, sessions and procedures done in PhilHealth-accredited health facilities. Pero kung kaya naman itong i-implement ng PhilHealth ngayon lalo na at mayroong budget para dito, mas mabuti. May I know lang po sa PhilHealth, is PhilHealth planning to further expand dialysis coverage? How many sessions do dialysis patients usually need and how many sessions are they planning to cover?