The Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) on Tuesday said higher taxes on so-called sin products were needed for people to fully enjoy the benefits of the newly signed universal health care (UHC) law which needed P22 billion more in funding. 11223, or the Universal Health Care Act, which gives PhilHealth coverage to all Filipinos. Though P18 billion was recently appropriated for UHC, the budget was still short of P22 billion, which was expected to come from higher sin taxes. Among the benefits PhilHealth wanted to provide for more people is coverage for those undergoing dialysis. It also wanted higher funding for primary care benefit package from the current P800 to P1,800 per family member.

Source: Philippine Daily Inquirer February 26, 2019 21:34 UTC