THE House of Representatives on Monday approved on third and final reading the bill that will provide for mandatory PhilHealth coverage of persons with disability (PWD).
With 204 affirmatives, zero negative and no abstention, House Bill 8014, granting PhilHealth benefits to PWDs, hurdled the chamber.
The measure “mandates Philhealth coverage of all PWDs not currently afforded health insurance under any existing category,” the House Panel on Social Services stated in Committee Report 808. The bill will introduce the new provision to Republic Act 7277, Magna Carta for Persons with Disability.
The bill also provides that funding for health benefits will be sourced from the National Health Insurance Fund of PhilHealth, earmarked from the proceeds of Republic Act 10351, “An Act Restructuring the Tax on Alcohol and Tobacco Products.”
Its counterpart measure, Senate Bill 1391, was approved on third reading last July. — Charmaine A. Tadalan

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