SENATOR Joseph Victor Ejercito has scored the Philippine Health Insurance Corp.(PhilHealth) for alleged failure to provide sufficient financial relief to patients.
During the Senate interpellation of the Department of Health’s 2025 budget, Ejercito expressed frustration over the unspent P89 billion of PhilHealth funds, questioning why the appropriation was not used alleviate public healthcare concerns.
“We felt we were deceived. We fought hard to secure more funding for healthcare, only to learn that billions remain unused. This should be used for the people,” said Ejercito, principal sponsor and author of the Universal Healthcare Act.
A 2019 study showed that PhilHealth’s support value was at 66 percent as indicated by the National Health Objectives 2023-2028. But latest data showed that PhilHealth’s support value for inpatient care was only 43.58 percent in 2020 and 56.80 percent in 2021.
“Our aim with the Universal Healthcare Law was to make quality healthcare accessible to all Filipinos, removing the need for people to seek support from other agencies or politicians. But the reality is, many are still forced to do just that,” Ejercito noted.
Additionally, data from the Department of Health revealed that PhilHealth contributed only 13.6 percent to the nation’s total health spending in 2022.
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