Hontiveros seeks P15B for zero balance billing

Senator Risa Hontiveros has proposed setting aside P15 billion in the proposed 2026 national budget to expand the zero balance billing (ZBB) program for hospitals run by local government units (LGU), as the bicameral conference committee continues deliberations on the spending plan.

Hontiveros said she raised the proposal before the Senate contingent of the bicameral panel, seeking a special provision that would earmark about 30 percent of the P51 billion approved for the Medical Assistance to Indigent and Financially Incapacitated Patients (MAIFIP) program for the ZBB in LGU hospitals.

“If this special provision in the budget is accepted, we can guarantee that P15 billion, or 30 percent of the P51 billion allocated for the MAIFIP, will go to LGU hospitals to fund free medical services under the ZBB,” Hontiveros, chairperson of the Senate Committee on Health and Demography, said Tuesday.

She expressed hope the Senate bicameral contingent would support the proposal, noting that lawmakers had already responded to the Department of Health’s request to expand the ZBB coverage by allocating P1 billion for the program in the Senate’s version of the 2026 budget.

At present, the ZBB covers the full cost of services for patients admitted to basic or ward accommodations in hospitals operated by the Department of Health (DoH). Hontiveros’ proposed special provision seeks to extend the same benefit to LGU-run hospitals.

“Through my special provision, more Filipinos will be able to receive free hospitalization under the ZBB because it will no longer benefit only patients in the 86 DoH hospitals, but also our fellow Filipinos being served by hundreds of LGU hospitals,” she said.

Hontiveros said the proposal forms part of the broader reforms she is pushing to improve the government’s medical assistance system, citing Senate Bill No. 1593, or the proposed Universal Health Care Medical Assistance Program, which she recently sponsored on the Senate floor.

“The aim of this bill is to channel medical assistance directly to hospitals, so they themselves can provide it to their patients,” she said. “Whoever needs help will be given assistance immediately. No strings attached. No conditions. No favoritism.”

Under the measure, patients would apply for medical assistance through registered social workers who would be required to process applications within 72 hours, replacing the current system of guarantee letters.

Hontiveros said she would continue pushing for health sector reforms even beyond the current budget deliberations to expand Filipinos’ access to quality and affordable health care.

“My advocacy for meaningful reforms in our universal health care system will continue, just as I have long pushed for these reforms in the past, during the current budget deliberations, and in my continuing work in the Senate in the future,” Hontiveros said.