Senator Joseph Victor Ejercito questioned the failure of the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth) to provide adequate financial relief to patients.
During the Senate interpellation of the Department of Health’s 2025 proposed budget, Ejercito voiced his frustration over the unspent P89-billion of PhilHealth, asking why these funds had not been used to ease the burden of healthcare costs for the public.
“We felt we were deceived. We fought hard to secure more funding for healthcare, only to learn that billions remain unused. Sana nagagamit na ito ng taumbayan,” the principal sponsor and author of the Universal Healthcare Act said.
Data from 2019 showed that PhilHealth support value is at 66% as captured in the National Health Objectives 2023-2028.
Recent figures, however, showed that Philhealth’s support value for inpatient care dropped to 43.58 percent in 2020 and 56.80 percent in 2021.
“Our aim with the Universal Healthcare Law was to make quality healthcare accessible to all Filipinos, removing the need for people to seek support from other agencies or politicians. But the reality is, many are still forced to do just that,” said Ejercito.
Data from the Department of Health also revealed that PhilHealth contributed just 13.6 percent of the total health spending in the country in 2022.
Ejercito emphasized the need for PhilHealth to fulfill its mandate under the Universal Healthcare Law and provide genuine support to Filipinos in need.
“We should be proactive. It’s easy to feel comfortable in our offices, pero may mga kababayan tayong hindi makabayad at halos mamamatay na sa laki ng hospital bills. Hindi na sila makakahintay,” he said.IMT
