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Rhodina Villanueva - The Philippine Star
July 3, 2026 | 12:00am
“As health care professionals, we care for Filipinos from every walk of life. We do not see them as direct or indirect contributors. We see them as patients who need our care. That is why we are deeply concerned by your proposal to provide different PhilHealth benefits for direct and indirect contributors,” the groups said in an open letter to Executive Secretary Ralph Recto, read in a press briefing yesterday.
Businessworld / File
MANILA, Philippines — Seventy-five national health care professional organizations are opposing the proposal to provide different benefit packages for direct and indirect contributors to the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth).
“As health care professionals, we care for Filipinos from every walk of life. We do not see them as direct or indirect contributors. We see them as patients who need our care. That is why we are deeply concerned by your proposal to provide different PhilHealth benefits for direct and indirect contributors,” the groups said in an open letter to Executive Secretary Ralph Recto, read in a press briefing yesterday.
Recto is pushing for expanded PhilHealth benefit packages for paying (direct contributor) members so that benefits become commensurate with their premiums.
Concerned groups said the Universal Health Care Act was never intended to divide Filipinos into different tiers of health protection.
“It’s guiding principles recognize the contributions of all workers while also giving priority to those who cannot afford to pay. These are not competing rights – they are complementary principles that ensure every Filipino is protected,” they noted.
The groups, led by the Philippine Medical Association (PMA), said they recognize the sentiments of many working Filipinos that benefits they receive are not enough in return for the premiums they pay.
“This is not because indigent patients receive too much. This is because government is failing to shoulder its lawful share in financing the premiums of the poor. As a result, direct contributors end up paying for a larger share of the country’s health care than the law intended,” they said.
The medical societies added that creating a separate tier of PhilHealth benefits does not solve that problem but shifts attention away from the real problem – government’s failure to meet its obligations under the Universal Health Care Act.
“The solution is clear – government must stop diverting PhilHealth funds, and it must stop underfunding PhilHealth. If government fulfills its obligations under the Universal Health Care Act, PhilHealth can strengthen benefits for every Filipino, rather than just a few,” the health organizations said.
“No Filipino should have to choose between protecting the worker who pays premiums and the poor patient who cannot. Our duty as health care professionals is to care for both. We ask our government to do the same,” they added.
Apart from the PMA, other medical groups that signed the letter were the Philippine College of Physicians, Philippine College of Surgeons, Philippine Association of Medical Technologists, Philippine League of Government and Private Midwives Inc., Philippine Pharmacists Association, Philippine Heart Association, Philippine Nurses Association, Philippine Academy of Physicians, Philippine Association of Nutrition and Philippine College of Adult Nephrology.
