SEN. Joseph Victor Ejercito yesterday said the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth) needs to explain why it is asking for a P74-billion subsidy in its proposed 2025 budget when it has unused funds of P89.9 billion.
“PhilHealth has to answer why they are asking for subsidy … We in the Senate are willing to give subsidy as long as they really need it… But now they will be asking for subsidy, then they will declare that there are excess funds. Parang hindi consistent (It seems inconsistent),” Ejercito said in mixed English and Filipino during the Kapihan sa Senado media forum.
Ejercito’s statements followed a decision of the Supreme Court to issue a temporary restraining order (TRO) against the transfer of PhilHealth’s unused funds to the National Treasury.
The High Court was acting on petitions questioning the constitutionality of the transfer.
Sen. Pia Cayetano welcomed the court’s decision “shows that there is an urgent need to evaluate the legality of such fund transfers and its irreparable damage to public health.”
“As senior Finance vice chair handling the health budget for the past five years, I have closely monitored PhilHealth’s budget requests and expenditures. For the fiscal years 2021-2023, PhilHealth had requested additional budget allocations from the Senate. Thus, it came as a surprise that they suddenly declared that they had excess funds that would be transferred to the national treasury,” she said.
Earlier, Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian said the Senate will ask PhilHealth why it needs more funds next year when it has excess funds.
Former Health Secretary Jaime Galvez Tan welcomed the TRO, saying “PhilHealth funds should be directed towards alleviating the financial burdens faced by millions of Filipinos.”
“PhilHealth must implement comprehensive reforms to enhance benefit standards, manage member contributions effectively, and ensure timely spending on benefit packages,” he said.
Health reform advocate Dr. Tony Leachon said the TRO only prevents the transfer of the final tranche of the funds amounting to P29.9 billion, but does not require the return of the P60 billion already remitted.
“To fully restore the integrity of PhilHealth’s financial resources, a status quo ante order prayed for by the petitioners should also be issued as this would ensure that the funds previously transferred to the national treasury are returned to PhilHealth,” he said.
Ejercito, in the forum, said he was wondering why PhilHealth wants the subsidy when it does not fully use the funds.
He reminded PhilHealth it is a government agency which should be service-oriented and should not think of having profits or excess earnings like private insurance companies.
He said funds allotted to PhilHealth should all be spent for the welfare of its members/beneficiaries and not evade or lower its coverage.
“We are not a private corporation, we do not need to have savings. We don’t need excess funds, we need to shoulder the patients’ hospital expenses, medical expenses, their annual checkups, and consultations),” he said in mixed Filipino and English.
He said under the Universal Health Care (UHC) Act, PhilHealth will shoulder the annual checkup of its members/beneficiaries, but only a few know about this due to the agency’s lack of information campaign.
He said PhilHealth funds should primarily be allotted for the full implementation of the UHC but its members and beneficiaries have yet to feel its effect five years after the passage of the law.
“So they really have a lot of explaining to do. PhilHealth has a big responsibility being the primary agency tasked to implement the Universal Health Care Act. The UHC is a good law but people still have to rely from other government programs for assistance…They should seek help elsewhere like the PCSO, Pagcor, or politicians which is what we are trying to do away),” he said.
He said PhilHealth should explain why it declared that it has excess funds when there are many hospitals still unpaid for patients’ coverage and the case rates of its members/beneficiaries are still very low.
Ejercito said he will also ask the Department of Budget and Management how much of the transferred PhilHealth funds have already been utilized to determine if they can still find ways to revert the money to the state insurer.
He called on the Health Technology Assessment Council — composed of medical experts, public health practitioners, and specialists – in coordination with PhilHealth and the Department of Health to determine the right amount of coverage for the different types of illnesses since the state insurer’s case rates are inequitable five years since the UHC Act was signed into law. – With Gerard Naval
