December 20, 2024 | 12:00am
MANILA, Philippines — The services provided by the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) would continue and may even expand despite zero subsidies, President Marcos said yesterday, as his administration faces criticism for backing a move to scrap the state-run insurer’s subsidy because of its multibillion-peso reserve fund.
PhilHealth was originally allocated a P74-billion subsidy in the proposed 2025 budget, but the bicameral conference committee scrapped it, citing a P600-billion reserve fund that has not been used.
Marcos has expressed support for the lawmakers’ decision, saying PhilHealth has enough funds for operations even if it is not provided with subsidies.
Some sectors have criticized the removal of the subsidy and have expressed fears about its potential impact on PhilHealth’s capability to pay the premium contribution of vulnerable sectors and to carry out its benefit packages.
But Marcos maintained that the zero subsidy for PhilHealth would not reduce the services provided by the health insurer.
“Let me be very clear. I hope those who are commenting about the PhilHealth subsidy conduct a deeper study of the matter. My guarantee is very simple: even without the subsidy, regardless of the contribution, all of these issues, the services of PhilHealth will not be reduced. PhilHealth’s payment for insurance claims will not be reduced. In fact, we will even increase the services provided by PhilHealth. We will even increase the payment for insurance claims,” he told reporters.
Last Monday, Marcos said the cost to provide PhilHealth’s services in a year is less than P100 billion.
“The truth is, the Department of Finance took back some of its (PhilHealth) reserves because they were not used for years. In other words, PhilHealth has sufficient budget to do all the things (it wants) to do,” he said.
“And the reason why we do not want to subsidize, is because the subsidy will just remain in the bank account of PhilHealth. It won’t be used. We can use that for several other purposes. So that’s a simple explanation there. They have sufficient funds to carry on,” he added.
According to Marcos, the problem in PhilHealth lies not in the provision of services or insurance cover, but in the processing of claims.
Contribution suspension
Speaker Martin Romualdez proposed it would be best to suspend at least for a year the contribution of PhilHealth members.
In his closing address Wednesday during the last session day of the House of Representatives, he hinted about a suspension of PhilHealth members’ monthly premium contributions, pending an inquiry to determine if its financial stability can support such a measure.
“This investigation is not about blame; it is about finding solutions. Our goal is clear: to ensure that every peso in PhilHealth’s coffers works for the benefit of its members – the hardworking Filipino people who contribute month after month,” he said.
Meanwhile, health reform advocate Dr. Tony Leachon appealed to President Marcos to conduct a review of the proposed P89.9-billion diversion from the state-run health insurer to unprogrammed appropriations.
In an open letter to the President, Leachon said Marcos can create an assessment team composed of department heads, which should include among its priorities the review of the issue of diversion of PhilHealth’s supposed excess funds. — Delon Porcalla, Rhodina Villanueva
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