MIGRANTE International
In light of the recent transfer of Php 89 billion in “excess” or unused PhilHealth funds to the Treasury, Migrante International reiterated its call for Marcos Jr. to abolish mandatory PhilHealth payments for OFWs.
The global alliance of Filipino migrants questioned the need for mandatory premium increases for OFWs given the scale of its payment collections from migrants.
“PhilHealth collects massive revenues from its members, especially from our OFWs who contributed Php 222 million to its fund last year. Yet Filipinos still cannot access proper healthcare without large out of pocket spending. PhilHealth should put its reserve funds to good use instead of milking migrant workers,” said Josie Pingkihan, Migrante International Deputy Secretary General.
Pingkihan asserted that neither overseas Filipinos nor their families back home receive meaningful benefits from the government health service despite heavy contributions to its fund.
“OFWs themselves find PhilHealth to be useless to them because they cannot access its services abroad. Some overseas Filipinos even have access to separate healthcare services from governments in their host countries, making PhilHealth redundant.”
Pingkihan also warned of potential dangers of corruption in the transfer of unused PhilHealth funds to the Treasury for unprogrammed funds.
“PhilHealth already swindled the people with its Pharmally scam, but the Marcos Jr. government has the gall to put precious healthcare money into more projects that we may not benefit from—if not pocket the large sum for themselves.”
Migrante International said that Marcos Jr. and its Department of Health should prioritize public funds towards a genuine universal healthcare service that is free, accessible, and comprehensive.##
