‘Covering informal sector PhilHealth’s biggest challenge’
MANILA, Philippines — Making the informal sector fully covered by social health insurance remains the “biggest challenge” for the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth), according to an official of the Department of Health (DOH).
DOH Undersecretary Mario Villaverde said 93 percent of the country’s population are now enrolled in PhilHealth.
A majority of the seven percent of Filipinos still not enrolled in PhilHealth are from the informal sector, he said.
“This is the real challenge – the informal sector. It’s difficult to identify them, we don’t know who they are or where they are,” Villaverde said during a media seminar conducted by the DOH in Vigan recently.
The informal sector is comprised of professionals, skilled laborers such as public utility drivers and vendors whose membership with PhilHealth is “voluntary by nature.”
Villaverde noted that collecting premium payments from members of this sector is also a problem.
“Since they are self-employed, there is no regular means to collect their premium contributions. So that is a challenge for PhilHealth,” he said.
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