Photo by Noli Liwanag
MANILA, PHILIPPINES [TAC] – A broad coalition of Philippine healthcare professionals has strongly opposed an executive proposal to tier state health insurance benefits based on premium contributions, warning it undermines the country’s universal healthcare mandate.
The alliance of more than 70 medical societies, nursing groups, and frontline health workers rejected a plan put forward by Executive Secretary Ralph Recto. Under Recto’s proposal, members of the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth) who pay higher premiums would receive larger benefit packages than subsidized, indirect contributors.
Medical groups argue the directive violates the core tenets of the Universal Health Care (UHC) Act, which guarantees equitable healthcare access to all Filipinos regardless of socioeconomic status.
“Social health insurance is based on social solidarity, where the rich help the poor and the healthy help the sick,” said Dr. Antonio Dans, convenor of the Health Professionals Alliance Against COVID-19, during a press conference in Quezon City.
The coalition, led by Philippine Medical Association (PMA) President Dr. Luz Barrientos, issued an open letter to Recto stating that medical professionals evaluate individuals as patients in need of care, rather than by their financial contribution type.
Instead of adjusting benefits based on income, the coalition argued that PhilHealth’s primary challenge stems from chronic state underfunding. According to the groups, the state insurer has consistently failed to receive its full, legally mandated subsidies from national government revenues, including its designated 40 percent share of sin tax collections.
Dans raised questions over the management of PhilHealth’s finances, pointing to a projected PhP170 billion (US$2.9 billion) deficit and a proposed PhP300 billion government subsidy earmarked for 2027. He noted that between 2022 and 2026, the insurer received only about PhP60 billion in direct government funding despite its growing liabilities.
The funding dispute follows a 2024 Supreme Court ruling concerning the unconstitutional diversion of PhP60 billion in unused PhilHealth funds back to the national treasury. While the funds were eventually accounted for in subsequent national budgets, Dans noted the high court explicitly characterized the transfer as both an administrative and a moral failure.
Representing frontline operators, Cecilia Santos of a national midwifery association added that healthcare workers already face stark operational inequities under current PhilHealth implementation guidelines, warning that further stratification would compromise essential maternal and birthing services.
The executive secretary’s office has not yet issued a formal response to the medical coalition’s letter.
