Up in arms! OFWs goes ballistic on mandatory 3% PhilHealth cuts from their salaries

Overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) are up in arms over the Philippine Health Insurance Corp.’s (PhilHealth) new policy which compels them to contribute three percent of their monthly salary.

Over 250,000 have signed a change.org petition urging PhilHealth to revoke Circular 2020-0014 on the premium contribution and collection of Overseas Filipino members.

The Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA)has also declared that it won’t release the overseas employment certificate (OEC) without clearing their PhilHealth dues.

“I believe that we OFWs and our dependents have been already struggling amidst this Pandemic and yet PhilHealth had issued a very unfair memo regarding premium payments. I believe that this is already too much of them to ask for an interest rate and a penalty which is very unfair and inhumane for those who travel away from their families to work,” according to the petition made less than a week ago.

An open letter signed by an anonymous OFW has also become viral on social media expressing OFWs’ disgust over the PhilHealth contributions that they would not be of use to them because they spend most of their time abroad (and their insurance covers their stay in the country).

Dear PhilHealth,

Thank you for thinking of our dependents healthcare while we are abroad. That’s so nice of you. But no thanks.

To the proponents of this new law, what do you think you’re doing?

A person working in the Philippines is not obliged to pay PhilHealth if he wants to travel wherever. What makes him less or more Filipino?

Lest we don’t need to pay a ‘health’ insurance to travel in and out of the country.

Is it our fault that we found a living in a land of milk and honey? Why do we have to take extra burden just because we’re working abroad? Why do you have to make us feel that we owe you where we are right now?

In case you still don’t know or have chosen to not know, we are staying overseas for 99.9% of the time. When we get sick, our company-provided medical insurance takes care of the bills. We get comprehensive coverage and convenient care and support. So where does PhilHealth become useful for us then? When we go home for vacation? NOT REALLY. Because we are enjoying a good international coverage as well.

Not to mention, our dependents get the same coverage and entitlements too.

So in common sense, membership to PhilHealth should not be mandatory. We don’t need redundant health insurance, lest an extra one that care less.

To charge a premium worth 3% of our monthly salary for something that we won’t be using is beyond unfair. To increase it up to 5% in the comings years, regardless of the income ceiling, is unthinkable. And the timing of this announcement is very uncalled for and insensitive, to say the least. If there’s even a little area of concern from you, you would know that a big number of workers abroad are now struggling to make both ends meet having been terminated abruptly at work, or having been placed on forced unpaid leave.

You cannot just cut some more to an already ailing open wound.

Insensitive and lack of empathy

Your slogan says Philhealth is ‘supposedly‘ our partner in health. But the message that reaches us says, we are your partner in wealth.

Your function looks good on papers. But this mandate looks like not given much emotional, intellectual, and practical thoughts. Also, can you please revisit and dig deeper into your core values, “Integridad, Inobasyon, Agarang Serbisyo, Taos-Pusong Paglilingkod, Pagmamalasakit, Angkop na Benepisyo, Panlipunang Pagkakabuklod.“

When people have trust issues already, you don’t go out there asking for more money – as if it is the best news to topple the already gloomy news landscape in the world.

This so-called ‘new dawn of health care’ looks more like a ‘new damn’ of health care, at least to the paying ones. Where is the empathy?

Lastly, does PhilHealth have coverage for anger management? If we have one immediate need, it probably is the cure for anger and the drastic effects this new law has given our mental health.

Sincerely,
A middle-class Filipino working overseas

Source: Latest Politics News Today (Politics.com.ph)