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Roxas proposes mandatory health coverage for all Filipinos


MANILA, Philippines - A bill seeking mandatory health coverage for all Filipinos on state expense has been filed in the Senate. Senator Manuel Roxas II proposes in Senate Bill 3154 that the government must pay for mandatory entitlement of every Filipino to healthcare benefits under the state's health insurance program. He said the immediate and automatic inclusion to Philippine Health Insurance coverage and membership is mandated by Republic Act 7875 (National Health Insurance Act of 1995). The mandatory universal healthcare coverage shall be funded by the national government through premium payments to the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PHIC), which shall be included in the annual General Appropriations Act, he added. “The health of every Filipino is important. It is the responsibility of the government to ensure that our citizens are healthy," Roxas said. He said that 48.4 percent of the total P181 billion expenditures for health in 2005 came from individual families’ pockets, and that only 28.7 percent came from government resources. He said the social health insurance, on the other hand, account for only 11 percent and health expenditure from other sources, such as private health insurance or community-based financing represent only 11.9 percent. He said that since 26.9 percent of Filipino families are below the poverty threshold, “it is unimaginable how Filipinos who are everyday grappling with the hardships of economic realities, will be able to afford a decent healthcare service for themselves and their families." Roxas is also the author of the Cheaper Medicines Act. - Amita O. Legaspi, GMANews.TV
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