PhilHealth told to suspend premium payments given huge income
A CONGRESSMAN on Wednesday asked state-run Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) to consider suspending its premium payments given its huge income.
“Can’t you temporarily suspend the collection of premiums from workers because the income of PhilHealth is very large, and until you show proof that you can effectively spend your money?” Marikina Rep. Stella Luz A. Quimbo told a committee on appropriations hearing.
The committee noted that the agency collected P68 billion from members, P22 billion from the government and P12.2 billion from investments.
Ms. Quimbo said a nurse with a salary of P40,000 would have to contribute P2,000 monthly or 24,000 yearly for health insurance.
She compared this with benefits from a health maintenance organization (HMO), which covers consultations, laboratories and diagnostics for out-patient care, hospital bills for in-patient care, patient financial services, executive check-ups, dental coverage, free consultations, disease and accident insurance and even free diamond peel and yoga classes.
PhilHealth President and Chief Executive Officer Emmanuel R. Ledesma, Jr. told congressmen when PhilHealth’s reserve fund, now at P336 billion, reaches P470 billion, “then we can either decrease the contribution or increase the benefit packages.”
He earlier said PhilHealth owes local hospitals about P27 billion, which it expects to pay in three months.
The Commission on Audit (CoA) has said the pay of PhilHealth’s top executives almost tripled to P72.24 million in 2022 from P26.2 million in 2021. State auditors also flagged the agency for questionable payments worth P8.23 billion for COVID-19 tests from April 2020 to May 2022.
CoA also found that PhilHealth had rejected 949 reimbursement claims worth P110 million filed by the Philippine Heart Center last year.
PhilHealth, an attached agency of the Department of Health (DoH), has a P101-billion budget for next year. — Beatriz Marie D. Cruz
