MANILA – Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon called for the reorganization of the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) due to alleged overpricing on coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) testing package.
Drilon said in a radio interview on Sunday that there may have been groups within PhilHealth that did the overpricing on the COVID-19 testing packages.
Drilon recently bared at the Senate hearing that PhilHealth will shoulder the cost for P8,150 per test.
He said the price was double from the cost from the Philippine Red Cross, which can do the same test for only P3,500.
“Ang maliwanag lang ay merong grupo diyan na nagse-set ng packages, COVID-19 man o kahit ano,” the Ilonggo senator said in an interview with DZBB.
“Siguro ‘yan ang tingnan at i-reorganize dahil sa hindi mo maiwasang isipin na baka ito ay meron nang network sa iba’t ibang ospital at service provider na binabayaran ng PhilHealth,” he added.
Drilon however does not want to make any conclusion that there is a deliberate intention on Philhealth to overprice the COVID-19 testing packages but what is clear is there is irregularity.
“Kung may sapat na ebidensya later na makita, file-an ng kaso. Ngunit sa ngayon, habang ini–imbestiga natin, i-reorganize na,” Drilon said.
For his part, PhilHealth president and chief executive officer Ricardo Morales said the P8,150 price tag was only for test kits that were acquired in March when there was limited supply.
The cost will be updated this week, Morales added./PN
