Health groups seek P244-B PhilHealth budget for 2027

Healthcare professionals, budget watchdogs, labor groups and basic sector leaders on Tuesday urged Congress to allocate at least P244 billion for PhilHealth in 2027, warning that the proposed P74-billion subsidy for indirect contributors would be insufficient.

Health Professionals Alliance Against COVID-19 member Dr. Jeremy Cordero said the proposed allocation could be exhausted by around March 2027.

“The proposed P74 billion PhilHealth allocation for 2027 is grossly inadequate and will rapidly be exhausted,” Cordero said on behalf of 71 health associations that signed a joint position paper.

The groups urged Congress and the Budget Amendments and Review Subcommittee to close an estimated P170-billion funding gap and provide PhilHealth with at least P244 billion for next year.

Cordero said P244 billion would be enough to sustain existing benefits for the full year, while a P376-billion allocation would allow PhilHealth to expand coverage for illnesses such as heart attack, stroke and other emergency conditions.

He said the P70-billion allocation for indirect contributors in 2026 had already been exhausted by April.

The groups also called for funds under the Medical Assistance for Indigent and Financially Incapacitated Patients program, or MAIFIP, to be transferred directly to PhilHealth.

Congress’ budget review subcommittee recently increased the proposed MAIFIP allocation from about P24 billion to nearly P50 billion.

HPAAC convenor Dr. Antonio Dans said the current system risks making medical assistance discretionary and vulnerable to political patronage.

“Many people are helped by MAIFIP, but many are also not helped,” Dans said.

The joint position paper argued that assistance should be based on a patient’s illness and required care rather than political connections.

“MAIFIP has consequently become vulnerable to use as a political instrument and mechanism of patronage,” the groups said.

Social Watch Philippines co-convenor Maria Victoria Raquiza also questioned the discretionary nature of MAIFIP, saying healthcare assistance should be delivered through predictable insurance benefits.

“A case-by-case assistance mechanism is structurally more amenable to patronage politics rather than automatic insurance entitlement,” Raquiza said.

National Anti-Poverty Commission-Senior Citizen Council sectoral representative Salvacion Basiano said stronger PhilHealth funding would help ensure broader access to government health services.

“It should be that all senior citizens, the poor and constituents have the right to receive this kind of service from the government,” Basiano said.