The Philippine Health Insurance Corporation on Wednesday promised to settle its outstanding debts to hospitals amounting to P27 million within 90 days.

"I'm confident that within 90 days from today, a bulk or majority, if not all, of the P27 billion will be paid off," PhilHealth President and CEO Emmanuel Ledesma Jr. said.

"Hopefully, that will make the hospitals and the doctors happy," Ledesma added.

He made the commitment during the budget deliberation of the House Committee on Appropriations on the proposed P199 billion budget of the Department of Health for next year.

According to the state insurer top official, the debit-credit payment method will be used to accelerate the payment for the unpaid hospital claims.

Under the payment scheme, PhilHealth will only pay a certain portion of the unpaid claims of the hospitals. The remaining unpaid claims will be settled after the completion of processing requirements.

In 2021, several private hospitals threatened to disengage with the state insurer purportedly due to its failure to settle its ballooning unpaid claims.