KABATAAN Party-list on Saturday welcomed the decision of the Inter-Agency Task Force for Covid19 to repeal the requirement for tertiary education students to have Philhealth insurance or any medical insurance counterpart before being allowed to attend face-to-face classes.

Philhealth insurance covers only a limited amount based on case severity, while necessarily imposing several fees on students who would go through its application process.

Moreover, it allows the state to pass the financial burden of Covid19 medical treatment to individual students.

“We reiterate that making it mandatory is discriminatory, anti-poor and negligent on the part of the state,” the group said.

At the same time, the partylist reiterated a repeal is not enough.

“Students still need health insurance for Covid19 given its potential threat even under Alert Level 1 areas. Thus, Kabataan Partyl-ist still calls for a separate medical fund to fulfill such need and to better guarantee as a whole, the safety of face-to-face classes,” the group stressed.

The youth organization said to achieve it, it’s essential as well to investigate and possibly, retrieve billions of misused and corrupted funds from Philhealth itself.

“Youth and students should not be overburdened with health insurance payments if corruption is still rampant in the agency,” it added.

Kabataan Party-list continues its call to fast-track and fund safe school reopening to address the education and economic crisis.