Ejercito blames PhilHealth over transfer of excess funds

Senator Joseph Victor Ejercito on Wednesday blamed the leadership of state-run Philippine Health Insurance Company (PhilHealth) over the transfer of excess funds to the National Treasury, saying it should have never announced having the extra budget the first place.

“Why would you declare an P89 billion excess fund when there are people who are still struggling to pay the hospital bills? P89 billion [of excess funds] gayong napakarami pang Pilipino ang nahihirapan bayaran sa kanilang (when there are a lot of Filipinos who are having a hard time paying their) medical bills?" Ejercito said during Kapihan sa Senado. 

"Ang nakakalungkot dito, we receive so many information, mga complaints na halimbawa P500,000 inabot ‘yung medical bills. Ang sasagutin nila (PhilHealth), P12,000, P15,000 lang,” Ejercito said.

(The sad thing is we receive so many information, complaints like medical bills reaching P500,000 but PhilHealth will only cover P12,000, P15,000 of it.) 

The senator made the statement after the Supreme Court (SC) issued a temporary restraining order (TRO) on the further transfer of the P89.9-billion excess funds of PhilHealth to the national treasury to fund other priority government programs.

“Parang hindi mo naramdaman. Kung sinagot man lang 30%, 40%, or even 50%, ang laking bagay sana nun. Meron pa ako nakita, P100,000 [ang billing], sinagot [ng PhilHealth], P8,000 [lang]. I [would] like to remind PhilHealth that they are not a private corporation na kailangan may profit, may savings at the end of the year. Kailangan natin ubusin ‘yan para sa benepisyo ng miyembro,” he added.

(You can't even feel the subsidy from PhilHealth. If they covered 30%, 40%, or even 50% of the final bill, that would be a huge help already. There's also this case of hospital bill reaching P100,000 and PhilHealth only covered P8,000. I would like to remind PhilHealth that it is not a private corporation which operates for profit, and that there should be savings by the end of the year. You should use up your fund for the benefit of the members.)

Finance Secretary Ralph Recto said it will respect SC’s decision but maintained that the 2024 national budget allows the said transfer of PhilHealth excess funds.

"We reiterate that before proceeding with the utilization of GOCC idle funds, our agency exercised due diligence and consulted extensively with the government's legal experts. These include the Governance Commission for GOCCs, the Government Corporate Counsel, and the Commission on Audit. These efforts were undertaken to ensure full compliance with our laws," the Finance chief said.

Ejercito, however, maintained that it is PhilHealth, not Recto, who is at fault because its declaration of having excess funds goes against the agency’s mandate of implementing the Universal Health Care law.

He said the UHC states that “the PhilHealth’s excess fund should be used to increase the benefits and to decrease the amount of members’ contributions.”

“Dapat hindi nahihirapan ang mga indigents, mahirap. 'Yung mga PWDs, 'yung mga senior citizen na walang kapasidad na magbayad ng kanyang hospital expenses. Dapat inuuna natin sila before declaring an excess or savings. So, hindi ang DOF may kasalanan dito, I think it's PhilHealth,” Ejercito said.

(Indigent people should not be scrambling for payment of their hospital bills. We should address that first before declaring an excess or savings. So this is not a fault of the Department of Finance. I think this is on PhilHealth.)

Ejercito, however, recognized that there is a need for Congress to ensure that the proposed P6.325 trillion budget for 2025 should include a provision explicitly excluding excess PhilHealth funds from being transferred to other government programs provided under the national budget.

“Particularly for PhilHealth...kasi nga work in progress pa ito eh. Dapat kung fully implemented na ito, doon lang natin siguro sabihin na dapat itong pakialaman. Huwag natin sanang pakialaman. Let us give the Universal Health Care Act a chance,” said Ejercito, author of the UHC in the Senate.

“This is a landmark legislation that's really intended to ease the burden of the ordinary Filipinos,” he added.

The SC, however, said the TRO only covers P29.9 billion of the P89.9 billion since P60 billion of excess PhilHealth funds have already been transferred to the national treasury.

But for Bayan Muna chairman Neri Colmenares who was one of the petitioners who sought the TRO, the entire P89 billion should be returned to PhilHealth because the transfer of funds is illegal and puts the financial security of depositors and the health of Filipinos at risk.

"This TRO is a significant victory for the Filipino people, especially for PhilHealth beneficiaries who rely on these funds for their healthcare needs. This decision prevents a grave injustice,” he said in a separate statement.

"Those funds transferred to the national treasury but not yet spent in unprogrammed funds projects must be returned to Philhealth.We must safeguard these funds from being diverted to unprogrammed appropriations filled with pork barrel projects, which threaten job security and employee benefits," he added. —AOL, GMA Integrated News