An elderly congressman has filed a bill in the House of Representatives that would prevent health maintenance organizations (HMOs) from turning away senior citizens who want to get coverage.

Senior Citizens Party-list Rep. Rodolfo Ordanes has filed House Bill (HB) No.2722, or the Anti-Age Discrimination in Heath Care Services Act.

The 72-year-old lawmaker said in his bill that despite the existence of the Republic Act (RA) No.9994 or the Expanded Senior Citizens Act, many elderly Filipinos still face institutionalized discrimination, particularly in the private health sector.

“One glaring issue is the refusal of by HMOs to accept senior citizens as members or their imposition of arbitrary age ceilings for enrollment, renewal, or access to health care services,” Ordanes said.

“Some HMOs either deny access outright or impose excessive premiums and limited benefits based solely on age, effectively excluding our elderly population from private health coverage at the time they need it the most,” he noted.

Through his bill, Ordanes intends to correct this inequity by barring HMOs and their affiliated providers from denying or limiting access to health care service based solely on age.

Ordanes said it's downright wrong for HMOs and insurance companies to deny Filipinos their services for this reason.

“Ang problema kasi disqualified agad ang senior bago pa man magsimula ang proseso ng pagtatanong hinggil sa insurance policies (The problem is that the senior person is instantly disqualified even before the process of inquiring on insurance policies begin),"

“Minsan naman, sobrang taas ng premiums na para bang ayaw talaga ng HMOs na maging member ang mga seniors, sa puntong wala nang basehan sa actuarial computations ang premium rates para sa matatanda. Mali ‘yung ganun,” he pointed out

(Sometimes, the premiums are so high that it’s as if HMOs really don’t want seniors to become members, to the point where the premium rates for the elderly no longer have any basis in actuarial computations. That’s wrong.)

The Ordanes measure also prohibits setting age limits for enrollment or renewal and penalizes unjust practices such as charging higher premiums or reducing benefits without actuarial justification and regulatory approval.