PRESS RELEASE


PHIC should stop transfer of funds to DOF since PHIC only has P13.88b left from “subsidies” – UHC advocates

August 22, 2024 


Medical Action Group co-chair and UHC advocate Dr. Juan A. Perez III presented an initial study on PhilHealth’s social health insurance program (National Health Insurance Program) to the Senate Committee on Health and Demography which indicated that the total premium subsidies provided by government from 2010-2022 was P564.46b and PhilHealth paid out P553.599b. This would leave only P10.88b of the subsidies by the end of 2022.


For 2023 the study estimated that government could only contribute PhP61.229b; the study projected that PHIC could pay up to P58b, leaving PHIC with a P3b surplus that year.  


That would leave PHIC with only P13.88b in excess surplus premiums. And P76b short to meet DOF’s demand of P89.9b.


“There is no financial basis for DOF to determine that there is a surplus of P89.9B from government “subsidies” to PHIC if you comprehensively examine the entire history of “subsidies” to PhilHealth since it started in 2010,” Dr. Perez asserted.


“PHIC should re-examine its financial capacity to pay the entire amount demanded without resorting to raiding the surplus from the direct contributors – the formal and informal sectors which includes salaried workers, OFWs, professionals, vendors, and others,” Perez added.

Dr. Perez warned that any transfer beyond the estimated actual surplus of P13.88 billion would likely tap into the contributions of paying members in both the formal and informal sectors. He urged the PhilHealth Board to maintain transparency with its members about the origins of the claimed P89.9 billion surplus and to seek consent from individual contributors before reallocating any of their funds.


The consequences of these financial decisions, Dr. Perez emphasized, are far-reaching. "If Congress permits the Executive to divert legally mandated premiums and encroach on other PhilHealth funds, it could infringe upon the constitutional and legal rights to health for the poor, elderly, and differently-abled communities. PhilHealth's funds are the lifeblood of our nation's healthcare, and depleting them without replenishment is akin to bleeding a body dry," he cautioned.


MAG, along with the Universal Health Care Collective, is urging PhilHealth Chair and DOH Sec. Ted Herbosa and PhilHealth President Emmanuel Ledesma to clarify the future of the National Health Insurance Program, particularly whether it will continue to cover the healthcare needs of its 22 million indirect contributors, given the precarious state of their premium funds. By reducing premium payments from government to the poor, Congress and the Executive would undermine the social health insurance underpinnings of PHIC and make the UHC law impossible to implement.


"PhilHealth must provide clear evidence that it is not diverting a single centavo from direct contributors to the national government," Dr. Perez concluded, warning that such actions could amount to technical malversation.#



For inquiries, please contact:

Ms. Edeliza P. Hernandez, RN

Medical Action Group

Email: ehernandez@magph.org


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