• Home
  • Politics
  • Health
  • World
  • Business
  • Finance
  • Tech
  • More
    • Sports
    • Entertainment
    • Lifestyle
What's Hot

Three Treatment Options To Consider

May 9, 2025

Microsoft Bans Employees From Using ‘Chinese Propaganda’ Chatbot

May 9, 2025

How Smart Mattresses Improve Sleep Quality For Couples

May 9, 2025
Facebook Twitter Instagram
  • Contact
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms & Conditions
Saturday, May 10
Patriot Now NewsPatriot Now News
  • Home
  • Politics

    Security video shows brazen sexual assault of California woman by homeless man

    October 24, 2023

    Woman makes disturbing discovery after her boyfriend chases away home intruder who stabbed him

    October 24, 2023

    Poll finds Americans overwhelmingly support Israel’s war on Hamas, but younger Americans defend Hamas

    October 24, 2023

    Off-duty pilot charged with 83 counts of attempted murder after allegedly trying to shut off engines midflight on Alaska Airlines

    October 23, 2023

    Leaked audio of Shelia Jackson Lee abusively cursing staffer

    October 22, 2023
  • Health

    Disparities In Cataract Care Are A Sorry Sight

    October 16, 2023

    Vaccine Stocks—Including Pfizer, Moderna, BioNTech And Novavax—Slide Amid Plummeting Demand

    October 16, 2023

    Long-term steroid use should be a last resort

    October 16, 2023

    Rite Aid Files For Bankruptcy With More ‘Underperforming Stores’ To Close

    October 16, 2023

    Who’s Still Dying From Complications Related To Covid-19?

    October 16, 2023
  • World

    New York Democrat Dan Goldman Accuses ‘Conservatives in the South’ of Holding Rallies with ‘Swastikas’

    October 13, 2023

    IDF Ret. Major General Describes Rushing to Save Son, Granddaughter During Hamas Invasion

    October 13, 2023

    Black Lives Matter Group Deletes Tweet Showing Support for Hamas 

    October 13, 2023

    AOC Denounces NYC Rally Cheering Hamas Terrorism: ‘Unacceptable’

    October 13, 2023

    L.A. Prosecutors Call Out Soros-Backed Gascón for Silence on Israel

    October 13, 2023
  • Business

    Microsoft Bans Employees From Using ‘Chinese Propaganda’ Chatbot

    May 9, 2025

    OpenAI CEO Warns: ‘Not A Huge Amount Of Time’ Until China Overpowers American AI

    May 9, 2025

    Trump Announces First Post-Tariff Trade Deal

    May 8, 2025

    Electric Vehicle Sales Nosedive As GOP Takes Buzzsaw To Biden’s Mandate

    May 7, 2025

    Tyson Foods Announces It Will Bend The Knee To Trump Admin’s New Rules

    May 7, 2025
  • Finance

    Ending China’s De Minimis Exception Brings 3 Benefits for Americans

    April 17, 2025

    The Trump Tariff Shock Should Push Indonesia to Reform Its Economy

    April 17, 2025

    Tariff Talks an Opportunity to Reinvigorate the Japan-US Alliance

    April 17, 2025

    How China’s Companies Are Responding to the US Trade War

    April 16, 2025

    The US Flip-flop Over H20 Chip Restrictions 

    April 16, 2025
  • Tech

    Cruz Confronts Zuckerberg on Pointless Warning for Child Porn Searches

    February 2, 2024

    FTX Abandons Plans to Relaunch Crypto Exchange, Commits to Full Repayment of Customers and Creditors

    February 2, 2024

    Elon Musk Proposes Tesla Reincorporates in Texas After Delaware Judge Voids Pay Package

    February 2, 2024

    Tesla’s Elon Musk Tops Disney’s Bob Iger as Most Overrated Chief Executive

    February 2, 2024

    Mark Zuckerberg’s Wealth Grew $84 Billion in 2023 as Pedophiles Target Children on Facebook, Instagram

    February 2, 2024
  • More
    • Sports
    • Entertainment
    • Lifestyle
Patriot Now NewsPatriot Now News
Home»Finance»Why PhilHealth Doesn’t Need to Raise Premiums in 2024
Finance

Why PhilHealth Doesn’t Need to Raise Premiums in 2024

January 23, 2024No Comments4 Mins Read
Facebook Twitter Pinterest LinkedIn Tumblr Email
Why PhilHealth Doesn’t Need to Raise Premiums in 2024
Share
Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Pinterest Email

As mandated by law, in January 2024 the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth), which provides universal health insurance coverage to all Filipinos, began implementing a premium increase. Contributions are set to hit 5 percent of income on those making between 10,000 Philippine pesos ($178) and 100,000 pesos ($1,780) per month. Almost immediately, Health Secretary Ted Herbosa requested this action be reviewed by the executive branch, which President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. is now doing. It seems likely the premium increase will be postponed or suspended.

PhilHealth in its current form is a product of a 2019 universal healthcare law passed during the Duterte presidency. It is a state-run insurance fund, and after the passage of the law all Filipino citizens were automatically enrolled. Annual premium increases were built into the text of the law, which states that by 2024 eligible direct contributors should be paying 5 percent of their income in premiums.

This was probably done to ensure that the fund could meet its financial obligations as it expanded and improved coverage. But with inflation on the rise, a scheduled premium increase was already suspended in 2023 and it now seems likely the final hike will be rolled back as well. That may not be a bad idea.

PhilHealth has been around and providing health insurance for a long time. Back in 2013, an annual statistical report claimed PhilHealth had just under 77 million covered beneficiaries, an estimated 79 percent of the country’s total population at that time. The 2019 law ensured that coverage was automatically extended to everyone, while improving benefits as well as administrative procedures. By 2022, PhilHealth was covering 104 million people.

See also  The De-risking Push Misunderstands China’s Manufacturing Strengths 

The basic idea is that PhilHealth expanded coverage and then started charging higher premiums to pay for better benefits for more people. About 37 percent of beneficiaries, mainly the elderly and those with very low incomes, have their premiums subsidized by the government. The premium payment in 2019 was set at 2.75 percent of income, and was supposed to increase incrementally every year until reaching 5 percent in 2024. Now that appears to be on hold.

And if we look at PhilHealth’s financial statements, it seems to be doing quite alright. Premium payments rose from 134 billion pesos in 2018 to 217 billion pesos in 2022, an increase of 62 percent. Obviously, you would expect that when the law includes mandatory premium hikes. But it’s not just revenue that is up. PhilHealth is posting big profits, with 2022 net income of 76 billion pesos. By comparison, net income in 2018 was 21 billion pesos.

These earnings are being reinvested every year, which has caused the asset side of PhilHealth’s balance sheet to balloon since the law was passed in 2019. PhilHealth’s total assets were recorded at 451 billion pesos in 2022, which included 126 billion pesos in time deposits and 281 billion pesos in investment securities, mostly government bonds. In 2018, total assets stood at just 177 billion pesos.

This is what you expect to see from an insurance company. Premiums are paid in, claims are paid out, and the surplus is invested in safe interest-earning assets like bonds and bank deposits. An insurance company like PhilHealth, which is covering every person in the country, needs to keep a lot of assets on the balance sheet because they don’t pay out all their claims at once, but rather expect to pay out claims gradually over the entire lifetime of every insured beneficiary.

See also  Study finds combustion from gas stoves can raise indoor levels of chemical linked to blood cell cancers

One interesting question this raises, however, is whether PhilHealth is too profitable. State-run insurance funds should be fiscally solvent and sustainable, but the goal should not necessarily be to extract large profits from beneficiaries. So how much is too much profit? That is a question best left to the philosophers, but what we can say is that PhilHealth is clearing well over $1 billion a year in operating cash flow, and that is before the latest premium increase has even kicked in.

This is not unusual in the Philippines where public services, like municipal water or electricity, often have high levels of access but also hit consumers with high prices. Given that inflationary pressure remains a major concern in the Philippines, and that PhilHealth’s finances are solid and the fund is not in imminent need of more income, suspending the latest premium increase seems like a pretty easy decision for the government.

Doesnt PhilHealth Premiums raise
Share. Facebook Twitter Pinterest LinkedIn Tumblr Email

Related Posts

Ending China’s De Minimis Exception Brings 3 Benefits for Americans

April 17, 2025

The Trump Tariff Shock Should Push Indonesia to Reform Its Economy

April 17, 2025

Tariff Talks an Opportunity to Reinvigorate the Japan-US Alliance

April 17, 2025

How China’s Companies Are Responding to the US Trade War

April 16, 2025
Add A Comment

Leave A Reply Cancel Reply

Top Posts

Fluctuating levels of cholesterol and triglycerides linked to increased risk of dementia

July 5, 2023

3 sailors rescued from sinking boat damaged from numerous shark attacks near Australia

September 8, 2023

Fox Forces Jason Aldean to Edit ‘Try That In a Small Town’ Music Video

July 28, 2023

‘Daily Show’ Unearths Tucker Carlson’s (Spoof) HR File And It’s ‘Not Good’

April 27, 2023
Don't Miss

Three Treatment Options To Consider

Lifestyle May 9, 2025

The most common cause of hair loss in men is male androgenetic alopecia (MAA), otherwise…

Microsoft Bans Employees From Using ‘Chinese Propaganda’ Chatbot

May 9, 2025

How Smart Mattresses Improve Sleep Quality For Couples

May 9, 2025

OpenAI CEO Warns: ‘Not A Huge Amount Of Time’ Until China Overpowers American AI

May 9, 2025
About
About

This is your World, Tech, Health, Entertainment and Sports website. We provide the latest breaking news straight from the News industry.

We're social. Connect with us:

Facebook Twitter Instagram Pinterest
Categories
  • Business (4,112)
  • Entertainment (4,220)
  • Finance (3,202)
  • Health (1,938)
  • Lifestyle (1,629)
  • Politics (3,084)
  • Sports (4,036)
  • Tech (2,006)
  • Uncategorized (4)
  • World (3,944)
Our Picks

Disney Agrees To Wrongful Death Trial After Facing Blowback For Trying To Dodge Case

August 20, 2024

Twitter Clone Threads Suffers 82% Engagement Drop

August 5, 2023

Christopher Nolan Warns AI Is Reaching an ‘Oppenheimer Moment’ — Mankind Could Be ‘Doomed’

July 16, 2023
Popular Posts

Three Treatment Options To Consider

May 9, 2025

Microsoft Bans Employees From Using ‘Chinese Propaganda’ Chatbot

May 9, 2025

How Smart Mattresses Improve Sleep Quality For Couples

May 9, 2025
© 2025 Patriotnownews.com - All rights reserved.
  • Contact
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms & Conditions

Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.