Health Secretary Teodoro “Ted” Herbosa on Wednesday sought the suspension of the implementation of the scheduled contribution hike of the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation, or PhilHealth.

In a media forum, Herbosa bared that he recommended to President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. the postponement of the implementation of the 5 percent adjustment of the health state insurer’s monthly contribution.

“My position is I think PhilHealth has enough money to actually continue to give benefits. It will not be hurt by delaying the increase in premium,” he said.

“Maybe it would be better if it were still suspended. If I am to be asked, it should still be suspended. Since it was suspended last year, no benefits have been affected,” he added.

Last week, PhilHealth President and CEO Emmanuel Ledesma Jr. announced that the health state insurer has implemented the 5 percent adjustment of premium rate from the current 4 percent.

He noted that those affected by the 5 percent adjustment rate are their direct members, who have monthly earnings ranging from P10,000 to P100,000.

Ledesma said that in the event that President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. issues an order to delay the implementation of the premium rate adjustment, he noted that the health state insurer shall comply.

“As of 12 January, we have yet to receive any message or directives from Malacañang. We are just following the law. We already [took] a big step in implementing the increase,” he said.

“Going forward, if ever we receive an instruction or directive from Malacañang, we will comply but since as of today there’s none, we already implemented it,” he added.

Under Section 10 of Republic Act 11223 or the Universal Health Care Act, PhilHealth shall implement the last adjustment of premium contribution or the 5 percent contribution rate and income ceiling of P100,000 this year.

Last year, Marcos issued a memorandum ordering the deferral of the scheduled hike in the PhilHealth premium rate from 4 percent to 4.5 percent.

He cited “socioeconomic challenges” and “difficult times” as reasons for the suspension of PhilHealth’s scheduled premium rate and income ceiling adjustments.