00:00Almost 90 billion pesos worth of benefits to PhilHealth
00:05were not provided by the Filipinos last year
00:09according to the Audit Report of the Commission on Audit.
00:12First of all, instead of expanding the benefit package,
00:15PhilHealth transferred the funds to investments.
00:20PhilHealth's answer to Marie's question is wrong.
00:24PhilHealth's lack of funds is the reason
00:28why it had to return almost 90 billion pesos
00:32that were not spent in the National Treasury this April.
00:35That's what the Commission on Audit pointed out
00:37in their 2023 Audit Report on PhilHealth.
00:40The agency noted that PhilHealth's limited and limited expansion
00:44of benefits for beneficiaries.
00:47PhilHealth's subsidies were not fully spent by the government.
00:52That's why the Department of Finance and National Treasury
00:55returned the excess funds of PhilHealth.
00:57The result?
00:58The members of the Sapat at Karagdagang Benepisyo
01:02who also came from their own contribution
01:05used the unspent subsidies from the national government
01:09to fully expand the benefits,
01:11especially for indirect contributors
01:14such as senior citizens, persons with disabilities,
01:17marginalized sectors, and others.
01:20PhilHealth failed there.
01:21It's not fair to say that we are neglecting
01:24because as you can see,
01:26we have been aggressively increasing our benefits
01:30and expanding our benefits for the benefit of our people.
01:34The benefits packages for severe pneumonia,
01:38stroke, and dialysis were also included.
01:40They also included coverage for kidney transplantation,
01:43dengue, COVID, and breast cancer benefits.
01:46But this is not enough,
01:48according to the Independent Health Reform Advocate, Dr. Anthony Leachon.
02:19This is 80% of the deaths in the Philippines.
02:24And this is more than P756 billion a year
02:30and accounting for about 5% of our GDP.
02:33So the angiogram should be free.
02:35The bypass can be free.
02:38Cancer therapies, PET scans, MRI scans.
02:43Another thing, PhilHealth did not prioritize
02:46the expansion of benefit programs
02:48because most of the funds were invested in investments.
02:51This was excluded from the Universal Health Care Act.
02:54PhilHealth said,
02:56Technically, PhilHealth is allowed to invest.
02:59And that's also part of the law.
03:01That is also part of our fiduciary role
03:05to make good use of our money.
03:09But again, we have also been continuously doing our reforms
03:17to achieve the mandates of Universal Health Care.
03:22Despite the increase in premium contributions to PhilHealth since 2019,
03:27benefit claims fell to P118.9 billion in 2023
03:33from P130.56 billion in 2022.
03:37According to PhilHealth,
03:39it launched new or enhanced benefit packages
03:42in the first quarter of 2024.
03:44It will launch other benefits in the last part of 2024
03:48and in the next year.
03:50For GMA Integrated News, Maris Umali speaking, 24 Hours.
Comments