Senator Christopher Go, Chairperson of the Senate Health Committee will look into the 2025 proposed budget of the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth) as concerns grow over its large unutilized funds.
He reiterated his deep frustration over the transfer of PhP89.9 billion in excess PhilHealth funds to the National Treasury.
Amid a petition filed before the Supreme Court contesting the legality of the fund transfer, the oral arguments was set to January 14.
“This is sad news for the Philhealth excess funds,” noted Health Advocate Dr. Anthony Leachon who has been leading the call to return the unused funds back to PhilHealth.
“The 90 billion will be all remitted by that time,” lamented Leachon, also a former PhilHealth director.
He related the timeline of the remittance and their correspondong amounts are as follows: May 2024-P20 billion, August 21-P10 billion, October 16-P30 billion and November-P30 billion.
Sen. Go highlighted the irony of the situation where billions of pesos sit idle while patients are unable to afford basic medical services.
The senator questioned why PhilHealth is seeking a PhP74 billion government subsidy for next year, considering the significant unused reserve funds.
“If they cannot properly use their funds, why do we still need to give them additional funds?” asked Go.
Go has called for several reforms in PhilHealth’s policies, including increasing case rates, expanding program benefits, and scrapping policies like the single period of confinement rule.
Additionally, he urged the agency to lower premium contributions of direct members and refrain from transferring more funds to the National Treasury.
