The Philippine Health Insurance Corporation on Wednesday assured the public that it has enough funds and actuarial life.
"We will open our statement to address the recent issue about the fund life of PhilHealth. Our statement is that PhilHealth is here to stay," PhilHealth officer-in-charge Eli Dino Santos told lawmakers during its briefing with the Senate panel on Government Corporations and Public Enterprises.
Santos explained that the fund life of the state insurer will depend on how it will spend its budget and its income.
"PhilHealth will last definitely, so long as we are able to efficiently manage our income and expenses. It is in our hands," he said.
"There's no limit in the lifespan of PhilHealth right now, again PhilHealth is here to stay," he added.
He made the clarification after he told the House appropriations committee that the state health insurer's actuarial life would not extend beyond 2027 even with funding from the Philippine Amusement Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR) and Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO), which were required under the Universal Health Care law to remit a portion of their funds to the PhilHealth.
Meanwhile, Dean Melvin Miranda, national president of the Philippines Nurses Association, Inc. proposed that PhilHealth should be generally funded by public funds.
"It should not be dependent on the amount of contributions that Filipino workers provide," Miranda said in his opening statement.
He explained that the funding coming from the national funding expenditure for the state insurer would "provide equal access regardless of one's status in life."
Miranda also said that there is a "little trust" in the state insurer, citing that many Filipinos believe that their monthly contributions will only be wasted.
"They believe that the amount deducted from their compensation will only land on corrupt PhilHealth managers," he said.
"With the little incentive, they get even with mandatory deduction. There is a little trust in the system," he added.
Earlier this year, the National Bureau of Investigation filed graft charges against former PhilHealth president Ricardo Morales and 13 others over the anomalous use of the interim reimbursement mechanism (IRM) fund.
The cases are rooted in alleged "ghost" claims for non-admitted or non-treated patients in a dialysis center that received P33.8 million in IRM funds before the pandemic despite pending administrative cases.
PhilHealth and the center B. Braun Avitum Philippines Inc. conspired to release the claims despite lacking documents, according to the NBI.
