Philippine Health Insurance Corp. President and CEO Dante Gierran on Thursday opposed a proposal to privatize the state health insurer.
“If we privatize PhilHealth, what would happen to our members? … We have what we call outright membership. Even if you’re not a member, if you go to the hospital, you’ll immediately become a member. We also have outright eligibility. Where would we get this if we privatize it?” Gierran said at a House hearing Thursday.
Gierran said privatizing Philhealth sends the wrong signal to the public that government officials are incapable of managing the agency.
Gierran’s opposition echoed President Rodrigo Duterte’s earlier pronouncement that he would not want PhilHealth to be run by the private sector.
“Are we telling the people of the Philippines and the world that only individuals in the private sector can work well? And that people in the government cannot?” Giran told legislators when asked about his thoughts on the issue.
“Wow, I don’t think that is a fair assessment,” added Gierran. “It will send a wrong signal to our people that people in the government cannot be trusted.”
But Rep. Stella Quimbo of Marikina, author of the bill allowing the President to privatize parts of PhilHealth or its entirety during an emergency, said privatizing the state health insurer would not mean that the poor would lose coverage.
“When we say privatize PhilHealth, we’re talking about privatizing the corporation,” Quimbo said. “It doesn’t mean that the government is precluded from subsidizing the premiums of our indigent households.”
The Department of Health (DOH), meanwhile, said the government would ensure that the health care needs of Filipinos will be covered even if PhilHealth is abolished.
Health Undersecretary Rosario Vergeire made the statement two days after President Rodrigo Duterte suggested abolishing the state health insurer due to massive corruption.
PhilHealth officials have been accused of misusing P15 billion worth of funds under its internal reimbursement mechanism (IRM), which granted advance payment claims to hospitals even if these do not cater to COVID-19 patients.
Per PhilHealth records, only P5.5 billion of the P15 billion IRM has been liquidated.
Since the controversy broke out, the Palace-formed Task Force already recommended the filing of charges against resigned PhilHealth chief Ricardo Morales, Senior Vice President Jovita Aragona, Officer in Charge Calixto Gabuya Jr., SVP Renato Limsiaco Jr., SVP Israel Pargas, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Arnel de Jesus, and Division Chief Bobby Crisostomo over the alleged PhilHealth fund misuse, including that of IRM.
The proposed 2021 budget allocated a P71 billion budget for PhilHealth, mostly for the implementation of the Universal Health Care law which provides free health insurance for all Filipinos.
Lawmakers on Thursday asked the task force led by the Department of Justice to look into the role of Health Secretary Francisco Duque III in the alleged irregularities at PhilHealth.
Surigao Del Norte Rep. Robert Ace Barbers said Duque cannot simply say that he did not have a hand in the disbursements through IRM, since he is chairman of the PhilHealth board.
In an earlier House hearing, Duque said he had no say in the IRM, even as the Senate Committee of the Whole recommended charges be filed against him.
