The Department of Health (DOH) on Monday assured the public that the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) has more than enough surplus funds to cover health benefits for all Filipinos for the whole year.
Starting 1 January, PhilHealth has been implementing its P284 billion Corporate Operating Budget, according to the DOH. This includes a 10 percent increase in benefits, compared to last year.
The corporation is currently increasing case rates for the most used benefit packages, including those for community-acquired pneumonia, hypertension, and animal bites, among others.
“The transfer of PhilHealth funds revived the issue of Universal Health Care. For years, PhilHealth funds languished in the bank, far from and unused by ordinary Filipinos," Health Secretary Teodoro J. Herbosa said.
"If the transfer of funds had not happened, the call to use it would not have intensified, because it is PhilHealth's duty to pay the benefits of its members," Herbosa explained.
Last year, Herbosa said the state-run insurer has a P150-billion surplus budget from its 2024 budget to cover the indirect members' subsidy.
The Health chief made the statement as PhilHealth was expected to get zero subsidy from the national budget.
Senate Finance Committee Chairperson Grace Poe earlier said that PhilHealth has P600 billion in reserve funds during the bicameral committee on the 2025 General Appropriations Bill.
Poe said the reserve funds must be used first because "it is just wasted."
Herbosa, meanwhile, said the utilization rate of the money allocated by the government for PhilHealth benefits in 2024 is only 63 percent, adding that the P150-billion surplus budget is bigger than the P74-billion subsidy requested by the health insurer for its indirect contributors.