The Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) was told to increase its benefit packages for the 10 most common illnesses in the country.
Finance Secretary Ralph Recto made the call during a news briefing in Malacañang following the signing of the 2025 General Appropriations Act (GAA).
Recto said raising PhilHealth’s benefit packages would ensure the effective use of the state health insurer’s funds.
“Maybe we should focus on the top 10 illnesses. I think that’s it. Let’s increase the benefit package for the top 10 illnesses by 100 percent, even 200 percent. This would greatly benefit the public,” he said.
PhilHealth did not receive any subsidy allocation under the 2025 GAA signed by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.
Recto said PhilHealth has P280 billion in reserve funds.
“My understanding is that Congress did that because the operating budget of PhilHealth is sufficient,” he said.
“They have a surplus of roughly 150 billion pesos the last time I looked at it. They have investments of more than P400 billion. They will probably earn P200 billion in 2025. They will spend the P150 billion,” Recto said.
Recto said the Department of Finance would scrutinize PhilHealth’s expenditures to ensure that funds are effectively utilized next year.
