PhilHealth assures better benefits after P60B return

The Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) sees the recent return of P60 billion in so-called excess funds as an opportunity to strengthen and expand services for its members.

In a Monday interview, PhilHealth spokesperson Israel Pargas said the reinstated funds will reinforce the long-term sustainability of the state health insurer.

“It’s a welcome respite for us because this will support all our programs to ensure the sustainability of our program. This includes the expansion of our benefits and improvement of our service,” he said.

On Friday, the Supreme Court unanimously struck down a special provision in the 2024 General Appropriations Act, as well as a Department of Finance (DoF) circular issued under then-Secretary Ralph Recto, which allowed the transfer of P89.9 billion from PhilHealth to the National Treasury. 

The Court voided the fund sweep, which classified the amount as excess and subject to remittance.

Special Provision 1(d) authorized the return of supposed excess funds of government-owned and controlled corporations, while the DoF circular directed PhilHealth to remit P89.9 billion.

Only P60 billion was transferred before the Supreme Court issued a temporary restraining order that halted the remittance of the remaining P29.9 billion.

Pargas said the ruling places an added responsibility on PhilHealth to safeguard public trust.

“This will also pose a challenge for PhilHealth because we have to protect the trust given to us by the Supreme Court and the people by seeing to it that every peso that is given to us as a contribution must be accompanied by benefits to ensure the health of the people,” he said.

Pargas earlier noted that PhilHealth’s operations remained robust even before the remittance, with benefit payments reaching P250 billion in 2025, an 83 percent increase year-on-year.

“So even though P60 billion was taken, we continued to expand and improve services,” he said.

Recto, who ordered the remittance when he was Finance secretary, maintained that the directive was lawful and anchored