PhilHealth clarifies fund transfer to national government

MANILA, Philippines — In response to the allegation of former presidential spokesman Harry Roque that P90 billion in surplus Philippine Health Insurance Corp. funds was remitted to the Bureau of Treasury (BTr), PhilHealth defended its transfer of funds to the national government, saying it was given consent by authorities.

“The administration appears to be undermining the funding for UHC (Universal Health Care)’s implementation,” Roque noted in his July 6 column in The STAR.

Roque said that “the fund transfer between PhilHealth and BTr is illegal under Section 11 of Republic Act 11223 or the UHC Law.”

He pointed out that the UHC Law or Republic Act No. 11223, particularly Section 11, states that “...whenever actual reserves exceed the required ceiling at the end of the fiscal year, the excess of the PhilHealth reserve fund shall be used to increase the Program’s benefits and to decrease the amount of members’ contributions. No portion of the reserve fund or income thereof shall accrue to the general fund of the national government or to any of its agencies or instrumentalities, including government-owned or controlled corporations.”

PhilHealth vice president for corporate affairs Rey Baleña said: “We would like to clarify that said fund to be returned to the national government has been approved by our Board of Directors in compliance with the 2024 General Appropriations Act (GAA) as implemented by Department of Finance (DOF) Circular No. 0003-2024.”

“We did our due diligence on this, and received proper guidance from relevant government regulators,” he stressed.

Baleña pointed out that “only unused portion of the national government subsidy released to PhilHealth through the GAA as contributions of indirect contributors are the subject of this (transfer)” and that “no funds from contributions of paying members were included.”

“The crux of the matter really lies in our ability to use these funds, that is why PhilHealth is now in the midst of an aggressive benefit enhancement program which we started last year,” the PhilHealth official said.

He noted that with regards to UHC implementation, excess funds are indeed being used to increase benefits.

Baleña cited the