THE board of the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) has approved a P284 billion corporate operating budget for 2025 amid a cut in its subsidy in the 2025 General Appropriations Act.
The 2025 corporate budget is 10 percent higher than the previous year’s P259 billion budget this year.
In a statement, Health Assistant Secretary and spokesman Albert Domingo said the PhilHealth board has also approved the second round of increases in selected case rates endorsed by the Benefits Committee by as much as 50 percent, as well as the emergency care benefit, glasses and optometric services for children, open-heart surgery benefits and pediatric cataract extractions.
Domingo added that the PhilHealth corporate budget has already factored in the zero-premium subsidy for indirect contributors for 2025, as reflected in the 2025 national budget.
Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) composed of medical and labor leaders on Dec. 17,2024 condemn the zero appropriation for the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) in the 2025 General Appropriations Act (GAA). PHOTOS BY ISMAEL DE JUAN
Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) composed of medical and labor leaders on Dec. 17,2024 condemn the zero appropriation for the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) in the 2025 General Appropriations Act (GAA). PHOTOS BY ISMAEL DE JUAN
Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) composed of medical and labor leaders on Dec. 17,2024 condemn the zero appropriation for the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) in the 2025 General Appropriations Act (GAA). PHOTOS BY ISMAEL DE JUAN
Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) composed of medical and labor leaders on Dec. 17,2024 condemn the zero appropriation for the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) in the 2025 General Appropriations Act (GAA). PHOTOS BY ISMAEL DE JUAN
Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) composed of medical and labor leaders on Dec. 17,2024 condemn the zero appropriation for the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) in the 2025 General Appropriations Act (GAA). PHOTOS BY ISMAEL DE JUAN
Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) composed of medical and labor leaders on Dec. 17,2024 condemn the zero appropriation for the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) in the 2025 General Appropriations Act (GAA). PHOTOS BY ISMAEL DE JUAN
Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) composed of medical and labor leaders on Dec. 17,2024 condemn the zero appropriation for the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) in the 2025 General Appropriations Act (GAA). PHOTOS BY ISMAEL DE JUAN
“It includes computations by PhilHealth management of a P150 billion surplus as of Oct. 31, 2024. The formula used is accumulated net income (also known as accumulated revenues) over the years of P431 billion, minus the reserve fund ceiling of P281 billion,” Domingo said.
Some P271 billion of the P284 billion will be allocated for benefit expenses, 11 percent higher than fiscal year (FY) 2024. The budget also takes into account board-approved increases in case rates, Z or rare disease benefits, the PhilHealth Konsulta (Konsultasyong Sulit at Tama) program at P1,700 and P2,100 capitation per person, and 156 hemodialysis sessions at P6,350 per session.
It also includes funds for emergency care, outpatient mental health, severe acute malnutrition and many other stand-alone outpatient packages.
“Despite the increase in the budget for benefits, the board approved an increase of only 3 percent for administrative expenses, from P12.1 billion in FY 2024 to P12.5 billion in FY 2025,” Domingo said.
Capital expenditures in the PhilHealth budget were pegged at only P259 million, 91 percent less than the P2.9 billion allocated in 2024.
Health Secretary Teodoro Herbosa, who sits as PhilHealth chairman, said the state-run insurance company has surplus money well over the reserve fund ceiling allowed by the law due to underspending on benefits through the years.
“The board approved higher benefits and a budget for 2025 that recognizes the need for PhilHealth to spend more so that families will spend less,” Herbosa said.
In a media briefing on Tuesday, Herbosa said they would also continue to give no balance billing in public hospitals for indigents, senior citizens and people with disabilities.
Meanwhile, House Assistant Majority Leader Zia Alonto Adiong said the state health insurer has more than enough reserve funds to cover the health needs of Filipinos.
Adiong said PhilHealth has surplus reserve funds amounting to P183 billion, apart from two unutilized Special Allotment Release Orders amounting to P42 billion.
“Note, too, that even with zero premium subsidies from government, annual premium collections from direct members are sufficient to cover average benefit spending of P140 billion. Ultimately the question is: why does PhilHealth have over P500 billion in investments when its primary mandate is to spend to save the lives and pockets of our kababayan, not to earn interest?” Adiong said.
The Nagkaisa Labor Coalition, however, denounced the zero-budget subsidy for PhilHealth.
In a statement, the group said the measure is “a direct assault on social justice and the Constitution” and urged President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to veto the budget and to restore the subsidy for the state health insurer.
“The president is clearly ill-advised and misled by his advisers and got his figures wrong,” Nagkaisa Chairman Sonny Matula said. “The zero subsidy is not just bad policy — it’s negative social justice. It runs contrary to the fundamental law’s mandate to prioritize health.”
“The hospitals are no longer being paid, and of course, the CBA benefits of health care workers are also not being paid due to the delay in PhilHealth’s payments. If this is the situation with a subsidy, how will it be when there’s no subsidy in 2025?” he added in Filipino.
Matula said Marcos should return the PhilHealth budget and cut funding where it “can afford to be cut.”
“Reduce the budget of the House of Representatives, which doubled from P16 billion to P33 billion in 2025 and also cut the budget of the DPWH (Department of Public Works and Highways), which is at P1.1 trillion,” he said.
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