Atin Ito First Filipino Community Newspaper in Ontario
Two of President Marcos’ economic managers are pushing for the integration of healthcare coverage as a part of the compensation package for all government employees.
Budget Secretary Amenah F. Pangandaman and Finance Secretary Ralph G. Recto both said that the government is now considering offering health maintenance organization (HMO) benefits to all public servants.
The two Cabinet officials added that there is also a plan for a new round of salary increases for civilian government employees, which could potentially coincide with the introduction of the HMO plan.
“Maybe, both executive and Congress can work together to have a new Salary Standardization Law (SSL) for government employees and or provide an HMO for them,” Recto told Manila Bulletin.
To recall, the final phase of salary increases for state workers under the 2019 SSL took effect last Jan. 1.
Pangandaman said the level of the pay raise in the new SSL may not need to be as high, given that it will be coupled with the inclusion of an HMO cover.
“For me, you don’t have to increase the salary by a large amount if you provide HMO because it will be part of the compensation package, which we believe is important,” Pangandaman told Manila Bulletin.
According to the budget chief, there is really a need to include healthcare coverage in the compensation package of the government.
“Could you imagine that our government employees do not have annual checkups?” she revealed.
Currently, not all agencies provide HMO coverage to their employees, but those with fiscal autonomy, like Congress and the central bank, do offer healthcare benefit.
But even without the new SSL law, Pangandaman believes that the government can still introduce the HMO benefit through an executive order (EO) by the president.
“We have the draft EO, but it requires further study,” she said.
Currently, there is a pending bill in the Senate that aims to provide comprehensive health care services to all government employees in the Philippines.
Sponsored by Sen. Raffy Tulfo, Senate Bill (SB) 1776 seeks to cover inpatient and outpatient care, diagnostic services, laboratory procedures, preventive health care services, and prescription drugs.
— Chino S. Leyco
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