- They are also strengthening their IT system to support online submission of claims which will speed up the process, and the agency will just directly deposit the claims to their account. a. Do you have PhilHealth Attaches overseas? - They don’t have but they do caravans for places with a lot of OFWs. But they do plan to open one this year in Hong Kong. b. Is the UHCL a reaction to the agendas laid out in the PDP? Or has it always been in the pipeline for PhilHealth? - It has always been in the pipeline for PhilHealth, but it came in different forms, or different names, depending on the advocacy of the health secretary. Health Sector Reform Agenda (Sec. Romualdez) | Continuation of reform agenda (Sec. Dayrit) | Kalusugan Pangkalahatan (Sec. Ona) | All for Health, Health for All (Sec. Ubial) | FOURmula 1 for Health (Sec. Duque) | Universal Health Care - With the passage of the law, it has become more concrete than just a memorandum or a secretarial platform. It’s now become more tangible and enacting. c. How do you sustain the UHC? - One of the ways is thru the sin-tax which is proposed in the TRAIN 2 to be further increased the percentage allotted or the UHCL. The member contributions will also be increased for a 7-year period as premiums are too low. - There will also be funds allotted to DOH for the UHCL as well as thru the GAA. Special funds will also be coming from PAGCOR with 50% of their shares and PCSO where 40% of their charity fund will be allotted to PhilHealth to improve their benefit packages. The PCSO fund however will only be half of the 40% for the first 2 years, and the full 40% afterwards. - However, there are still issues with the IRR as to what part will PCSO and PAGCOR play in the IRR besides allotting special funds. There are talks of moving the endowment fund program to PhilHealth, wherein they would be the implementing agency instead of PCSO or PAGCOR. This could be good as it would create a one-stop shop for those that are in dire need of funds for health care. But in the onset, this could be chaotic for PhilHealth, and could create a problem where everything would be funneled to PhilHealth because other government agencies might say that they would have nothing to do with health care anymore as everything is with PhilHealth. - Since the IRR planning is scheduled for 180 days, they expect it to be straightened out by October and the full implementation can be done by next year. 62