Nagkaisa Hails Deferment of UHC Amendments: A Victory for Health, A Win for Workers!

The Nagkaisa Labor Coalition warmly welcomes the deferment of the proposed amendments to the Universal Health Care (UHC) Act—a major win for healthcare justice and the millions of workers who depend on PhilHealth for life-saving services.

Under mounting pressure from healthcare professionals, workers, and civil society advocates, the Congressional bicameral conference committee backed down from advancing what would have been harmful and regressive changes to the UHC Law. In a stunning but welcome move, the committee decided to put the amendments on hold.

“This is a huge relief for everyone who believes in universal, accessible, and affordable healthcare,” said Nagkaisa Spokesperson Rene Magtubo.

“Workers contribute to PhilHealth, rely on it in times of need, and deserve to be heard before any law is rewritten. Congress must ensure that the UHC dream is not derailed by shortsighted proposals,” Magtubo added.

This groundswell of opposition follows massive protests over the blatant defunding of PhilHealth—when ₱60 billion was sequestered from its fund in 2024, and the agency was given zero budget in 2025. These attacks on public healthcare triggered outrage across sectors, deepening public mistrust and fueling calls to defend and strengthen—not sabotage—universal health care.

Nagkaisa emphasized that the deferment now gives the incoming 20th Congress a crucial opportunity to conduct broad, meaningful, and inclusive consultations—with healthcare workers, patients, civil society, and the working people who pay premiums and rely on PhilHealth to survive medical crises.

The decision came just in time: a massive rally organized by the UHC Collective and Nagkaisa was set to take place at the Senate tomorrow. The mobilization will continue—not in protest, but in vigilance and solidarity, to ensure that any future reforms strengthen, not gut, the vision of universal healthcare.

“This fight is not over. But today, we celebrate a crucial win. Congress heard the people. Now, we demand that they keep listening,” Magtubo concluded. 

NAGKAISA Labor Coalition Calls on Congress to Defer the Proposed Amendments to the Universal Healthcare Law

The NAGKAISA Labor Coalition calls on our Senators and Congressmen to defer the forthcoming bicameral conference committee meeting to reconcile Senate Bill 2620 and House Bill 11357, bills amending the Universal Healthcare (UHC) Act of 2019. The proposed amendments will have a grave effect on the financial sustainability of the country’s national health insurer, the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth), and hinder PhilHealth from effectively carrying out its mandate of lowering out-of-pocket healthcare expenditures for all Filipinos.  

 

Both HB 11357 and SB 2620 lower the premium contributions of PhilHealth direct contributors – from 5% to 3.25% for the Senate version and 3.5% for the House version. This will lead to PhilHealth’s deficit ballooning to P90 billion in 2025.

 

We acknowledge the intent of some legislators to give workers a reprieve from paying high premiums, but we cannot turn a blind eye to the long term impact of the reduction of premiums, which will ultimately affect the workers’ right to accessible and affordable health care.

 

Lowering PhilHealth’s premiums at this time is ill-advised, given the controversial defunding of PhilHealth in the 2025 National Budget. The Supreme Court decision on the petitions questioning the constitutionality of the transfer of P60 billion of PhilHealth funds to the National Treasury, for which NAGKAISA is a petitioner-intervenor, has yet to be released. This will likely have an impact on the implementation of Universal Healthcare; thus, it is prudent to wait for the Court’s decision before amending existing legislation.

 

NAGKAISA Labor Coalition calls on the House of Representatives and the Senate to give the Universal Healthcare Act a chance to be fully implemented and to do a thorough assessment of UHC rather than hastily passing a bill which puts the continued roll out and expansion of benefits for the Filipino people in peril. We call on our legislators to hold a multi-sectoral consultation including workers, who pay their premium contributions, rely on PhilHealth to fund life-saving healthcare, and are fervent in their hope that the dream of affordable, accessible, and quality healthcare for all will be realized.