'Govt owns unused PhilHealth funds'

HEALTH Secretary Teodoro Herbosa said on Monday that the unused and idle funds of the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) should be returned to the national government since the agency failed to utilize these subsidies.

Herbosa, who also sits as PhilHealth chairman of the board, insisted that the P89.9 billion in unused funds came from the government.

He added that the funds were «not savings,» thus the national government had the right to order PhilHealth to return it.

«It's not from the members' contributions. This is not from their reserve fund; this is not from their investments. This is government money that PhilHealth was unable to absorb,» Herbosa said.

«The problem is that for the past three years, these funds are in excess of what they registered,» he added.

The health chief said that even after returning the excess PhilHealth funds, the agency could still increase members' benefits.

«The Department of Health is now the third-highest budget among the executive branches. We're next to education and public works, but I can definitely use more money, and PhilHealth can definitely increase the benefits,» Herbosa said.

The government has said that the return of PhilHealth's excess funds will not affect the rollout of additional benefits this year. In previous statements, government executives have stated that the number of generic drugs available for outpatient treatments like hypertension will more than double to 53 from the current 21.

In addition to this, PhilHealth is set to almost double the benefits for those suffering from stroke and pneumonia, offering coverage of up to P76,000.

A nearly 1,000 percent increase in the coverage limit for breast cancer treatments, from P100,000 to P1.4 million, has also been announced.

By end of the year, PhilHealth will include chemotherapy for lung, liver, ovarian and prostate cancers in its coverage.