THE Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth) yesterday reported an 89 percent increase in benefit claim payments to hospitals and health facilities as compared to last year.
Data released by PhilHealth showed that a total of P145.36 billion in benefit claims have been paid between January 1 to June 28, 2025.
“This is 89.04 percent higher than last year for the same period, which was at P76.89 billion,” said PhilHealth.
In an interview, PhilHealth President and Chief Executive Officer Edwin Mercado yesterday said the higher amount of payment was due to the bigger packages offered by the state-run health insurer.
“This is because of the additional benefits that were introduced. The 50 percent across-the-board increase that was implemented this January means an automatic 50 percent increase from last year,” Mercado explained.
“Add to these our new benefit packages, so those are the ones that were added in the payments,” he added.
PhilHealth has implemented the 50 percent adjustment in the case rates of selected medical benefits of its members beginning January 1, 2025.
Asked if the agency is now settling claims faster and resulting in higher payments, the official said those are “minimal.”
“It might be among the factors, but that’s not the main one,” said Mercado.
In the past, PhilHealth had been heavily criticized for its delayed payments of benefit claims to hospitals.
