DoH clears 90% of health emergency allowances, commits to settling remaining arrears

The Department of Health (DoH) announced on Saturday that 90 percent of Health Emergency Allowances (HEA) have been paid.

The HEA, amounting to P103.5 billion, went to settle some 14.5 million claims from health workers.

President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. directed the government to fully fund the remaining P27.3 billion in arrears this year.

In April, the DoH recorded around P23.4 billion worth of HEA obligations for 4.3 million claims that could not be paid due to budget constraints. After DoH processed and granted appeals, this figure rose to P27.3 billion.

Last July, Marcos instructed Budget and Management Secretary Amenah Pangandaman to no longer wait for the General Appropriations Act of 2025 to pay the amount, and to process it this year.

The surplus fund balance or excess payments that PhilHealth returned to the national government provided the needed cash.

The Department of Budget and Management (DBM) immediately released a Special Allotment Release Order to enable the DoH to fulfill the obligation.

As of 20 September, 64 percent of the additional P27.3 billion had been disbursed.

Health facilities have played a key role in the final payment of the HEA to health workers themselves, according to the DoH.

The Health Department has listed 2,853 health facilities and checks have been issued to 2,070 or 73 percent of them.

In compliance with Commission on Audit guidelines, the DoH is continually reminding 517 facilities to finalize the Memorandum of Agreement or MoA, and 649 others to complete the liquidation of previous payments.

CSMC to release HEA

The Cardinal Santos Memorial Center (CSMC) is set to release the HEA covering 20 months to its health workers on 25 September.

In an advisory, the San Juan-based hospital announced that the allowance will be credited to all its eligible employees’ payroll accounts on Wednesday. For separated employees, individual checks will be prepared The remaining HEAs from August and September are still pending approval.