Palace rejects PhilHealth proposal to suspend UHC Act implementation

- Advertisement -

MALACANANG yesterday rejected the call of the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) to suspend the implementation of the Universal Health Care (UHC) Act, with Presidential spokesman Harry Roque saying this is against the law.

“This violates the provision of the law and the intention of the authors of the law,” said Roque, one of the primary authors of the UHC when he was still a member of Congress.
He said the UHC was enacted to support the health needs of Filipinos as the current coverage of PhilHealth is not enough.

Last Tuesday, PhilHealth president and CEO Ricardo Morales earlier proposed the postponement of the full implementation of the UHC due to lack of funds. He said the state insurer’s revenue might decline by around P100 billion this year until 2024 due to non-payment of premiums by its members adversely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.

- Advertisement -

Responding to Morales’ proposal, Senate majority leader Franklin said it “is a step in the wrong direction,” adding the full implementation of the UHC is critical in the fight against the deadly coronavirus.

Roque said it is the obligation of the state to ensure the good health of the people. He added that if the current PhilHealth management cannot implement the law, there may be a need to find someone who can implement it.

He, however, said his statement does not mean that he is calling on Morales to quit.

“My call on the PhilHealth leadership, if you cannot implement a law that had been certified as urgent by the President — because he wants to provide free medicine and free treatment for the Filipinos similar to the one he implemented in Davao — then maybe we should find one who (can) implement it,” he said.

Roque also urged Morales to conduct a parallel administrative investigation on alleged corruption cases in the PhilHealth even while there is a pending probe being conducted by the Ombudsman.

Roque said he would seek a meeting with President Duterte and Morales about the alleged corruption in PhilHealth.

Morales claimed the agency had already looked into the alleged irregularities and had even sent “boxes and boxes of files” to government investigators that led to the filing of cases against several of the corporation’s executives and employees. He said PhilHealth is also open to a third-party auditing.

Author

- Advertisement -

Share post: