President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., met with Department of Health (DoH) Secretary Teodoro Herbosa and his economic team on Tuesday to discuss the next steps for the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth).

Marcos ordered the health department to ensure that the delivery of services of the health insurer remains unhampered despite receiving zero subsidy from the 2025 National Budget.

“Make sure that services of PhilHealth remain unhampered… it (zero budget) should not affect the delivery of healthcare services,” Marcos told Herbosa.

He previously assured that the zero budget allocation won’t affect the performance of PhilHealth in providing services and instead would have more benefits offered.

Marcos also reiterated his commitment to prioritize social services in the 2025 national budget giving focus on the education, health, economic, infrastructure and agriculture sectors.

Meanwhile, the President also urged Herbosa to shift his department’s focus from cure to prevention, stressing that “an ounce of prevention is better than a pound of cure.”

He also highlighted the importance of digitalizing the DoH to improve the performance of the department in providing services making it more efficient.