Drivers, vendors to be covered in expanded health insurance

Over eight million cab, bus and jeepney drivers, street vendors and other informal workers can now have access to social security as government plans to expand its nationwide insurance program for informal laborers, the Office of the President announced yesterday.

National Anti-Poverty Commission head Secretary Domingo Panganiban said the Philippine Health Insurance (PhilHealth) plans to grant some 8.5 million informal workers access to heath insurance through PhilHealth’s “Kalusugan Sigurado at Abot-Kaya sa PhilHealth Insurance” (KaSAPI) program.

Reports said that as of December last year, only around seven million of the country’s 15.5 million informal workers have adequate health insurance.

“President Arroyo wants health insurance for the entire informal labor force,” Panganiban said. NAPC is directly under the Office of the President.

The informal workers sector includes street vendors, manual laborers, freelance cab drivers, small entrepreneurs and farm workers who constitute half the national workforce.

Panganiban said the KaSAPI program allows low cost health insurance for poor informal laborers on flexible terms even as it encourages greater social responsibility in partner organizations.

“The pilot design of the program offers an individually paying family plan for about P3.30 a day,” he said.

A report issued by PhilHealth to NAPC indicates that some 4,000 Filipino families are already enrolled for health insurance services under the pilot format of the KaSAPI program through a total of 14 cooperatives in Regions 1, 3, 4-A, 8, 10, 11 and 13.

Lorna Fajardo, acting PhilHealth president and chief executive officer, said the nationwide implementation of the program will require the support of more cooperatives, microfinance institutions and non-government organizations throughout the country.

“PhilHealth would be responsible for all the requisite processes in reference to membership and registration,” she said.

The organized groups in turn would help in recruitment, the conduct of the information, education and communication (IEC) campaign, and collection and remittance of members in exchange for discounted premiums, Fajardo said.

Panganiban urged informal labor organizations and other organized groups to support the program.

“The financial demands of medical emergencies can have a serious impact on the overall welfare of low income families headed by informal workers. This program seeks to protect them against the financial burdens imposed by unforeseeable health crises,” the anti-poverty chief said.

The PhilHealth report to NAPC says that the corporation covers around 79 percent of the Filipino population. Approximately 13 percent of those presently covered are informal workers.

Panganiban also urged the government to put priority on water projects in Bicol this year to address the urgent need for potable water in the region following the devastation caused by successive super typhoons last year.