MANILA – President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. justified the government’s zero subsidy for Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth) next year, citing the state insurer’s ample reserve funds.
According to the Chief Executive, the state insurer that is responsible for providing health insurance has no budgetary issues owing to its estimated reserve of P500 billion.
“They have sufficient funds to carry on. Ang problema ng PhilHealth hindi tungkol sa pagbigay ng serbisyo, hindi sa pagbigay ng insurance cover,” Marcos said.
He added: “Ang problema kung titignan ninyo, you look at the reports that are happening, sa dami ng bagong services ng PhilHealth, sa dami ng mga bagong payment na binibigay ng PhilHealth, nababara ang sistema.”
“You can see there are, in the provinces, merong mga tao nag-aantay buong araw ‘yung pila dalawang daang tao naghihintay ng claim,” the President further said.
PhilHealth’s Health Finance Policy Sector Senior Vice President Dr. Israel Francis Pargas said on Monday he is hopeful that President Marcos will review the decision of the Congress not to grant their 2025 subsidy.
“However kung talaga pong magiging batas ‘yan, at siyempre kami naman ay umaasa na bago pa pirmahan ng Pangulo, ay ito’y mapag-aralan muli,” Pargas said in an interview with DZBB AM radio.
Pargas, however, stated that PhilHealth’s operations for 2025 would rely on its surplus and investment funds in the absence of subsidy, which came from sin taxes.
“Ang mangyayari po niyan, kung talagang wala na maisasabatas, na zero budget po talaga tayo, kung ano po ang ating pondo sa ngayon, katulad po ng mga nababanggit na surplus and investment funds, doon po natin lahat kukunin ‘yung magiging pondo natin para sa taong 2025,” he said.
The decision to cut PhilHealth’s subsidy stems from its P600 billion reserve funds, as disclosed by Senate Finance Committee Chairperson Grace Poe during the bicameral conference committee meeting on the 2025 General Appropriations Bill.
Under the initial 2025 National Expenditure Program (NEP), PhilHealth was allocated P74.431 billion, later reduced to P64.419 billion by the Senate. The bicameral committee then decided to cut the allocation entirely./PN
