Legarda vows bill for automatic PhilHealth funding release

Senator Loren Legarda on Friday, 12 December, vowed to file a bill mandating the automatic appropriation and automatic release of PhilHealth’s annual funding requirements.

“This reform is essential to ensure that the PhilHealth can meet its statutory obligations, protect its reserve fund, and sustain the financial risk protection that millions of Filipinos depend on,” Legarda said during her meeting with the Healthcare Professionals Alliance Against COVID-19 (HPAAC).

The senator also called for the return of the state insurer’s P60-billion fund to “directly support the health needs of our people” after the Supreme Court unanimously ordered the return of the fund previously transferred to the National Treasury in 2024.

“[HPAAC] reiterated that PhilHealth deserves far more robust funding, especially as it must allocate at least P147 billion in 2026 to fully subsidize the premiums of 24.5 indirect members,” she added.

Meanwhile, health reform advocate Dr. Tony Leachon welcomed Legarda’s commitment to file a bill ensuring automatic, protected, and non-negotiable PhilHealth allocations, describing it as a “decisive step toward preventing future misalignment of funds.”

“Her initiative recognizes that health financing must never be vulnerable to political maneuvering. It must be stable, predictable, and insulated from interference -- because people's lives depend on it,” Leachon said.

On 5 December, the Supreme Court “permanently prohibited the transfer of the remaining P29.9-billion fund balance” after several groups and public health advocates filed petitions before the High Court to block the Department of Finance’s order transferring P89.9 billion in alleged “excess” PhilHealth funds to the National Treasury.