Solon seeks free, automatic health coverage for PWDs

A congressional ally of President Duterte has sought the free and automatic coverage of persons with disabilities (PWDs) under the national health insurance program.

Camarines Sur Rep. Luis Raymund Villafuerte, vice chairman of the House Committee on Appropriations reminded the government to fulfill its commitment under the United Nations Convention on the  Rights of PWDs by granting the PWDs full access to health and medical facilities and services.

The House leader sought the passage of  House Bill 6108, which mandates the national government to shoulder the PWDs’ contributions to the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth), except for employed PWDs whose contributions shall be shared equally by the state and these workers’  employers.

“While the Magna Carta for Disabled Persons is a step in providing necessary services to those in need, and to raise awareness about the PWDs in the country, there is still a need to strengthen and extend rehabilitation to them,” Villafuerte said in filing H.B. 6108.

“This (bill) intends to provide the differently-abled with the same opportunities available to everyone else,” he said.

The House Committee on Social Services is set to consolidate H.B. 6108, with at least eight other similar bills that have already been merged into a substitute bill, which is now pending with the House Committee on Appropriations.

Citing the results of the Census of Population and Housing in 2010, Villafuerte said over 1.4 million Filipinos or approximately 1.57 percent of the entire population have a disability.

He laments that amid the enactment of Republic Act 7277, or the “Magna Carta for Disabled Persons” in 1992, “there are still gaps in the national health  program for PWDs that need to be addressed.”

“Among them the lack of adequate access to health services and facilities for the PWDs and inclusion in the National Health Insurance Program (NHIP) of the PhilHealth,” he said.

Villafuerte cited the need to amend Section 32 of RA 7277 to ensure that funds necessary to enroll PWDs in Philhealth would be sourced from the National Health Insurance Fund, which are earmarked from the proceeds of Republic Act 10351 or the Sin Tax Reform Act.

Under HB 6108, he called on Philhealth to “develop exclusive packages for PWDs that will address their specific health and development needs.”