Mandatory PhilHealth for seniors now a law

MANILA, Philippines - PhilHealth coverage for senior citizens is now mandatory.

President Aquino has signed into law Republic Act 10645, which amends the Expanded Senior Citizens Act of 2010 or RA 9994.

A copy of the law, which the President signed on Nov. 6, was published in a broadsheet yesterday.

The measure is a consolidation of House Bill 4593 and Senate Bill 712 passed by both houses of Congress last September.

The law expanded RA 9994, which covered only indigent senior citizens, to include all Filipinos aged 60 or older.

The needed funds to provide PhilHealth coverage to all senior citizens will be sourced from the PhilHealth National Health Insurance Fund as provided under the amended sin tax law.

Sen. Ralph Recto, one of the authors of the measure, had said only about 3.9 million of over six million senior citizens in the country are PhilHealth members.

“Enrolling them must be automatic, not optional. The ideal is that the minute they blow out the candles on their 60th birthday cake to the moment they breathe their last, they should be PhilHealth members,” Recto said.

PhilHealth has 31.27 million registered members and 45.63 million dependents as of the end of 2013.

Recto said the government would need an annual budget of P5.2 billion to provide health insurance to its members.

PhilHealth officials welcomed the signing of the law, saying it would ensure that all senior citizens would be adequately protected.

Israel Francis Pargas, PhilHealth vice president for corporate affairs group, said there are 6.3 million elderly in the country, who are either lifetime PhilHealth members because they had contributed for at least 10 years, principal members, dependents or belonged to the poorest families.

“The next thing to do now is to coordinate with proper agencies on how to come up with the implementing rules and regulations law,” he said. – With Sheila Crisostomo