July 31st, 2024
Why don’t we just increase the benefits package? Even with the proposed withdrawal of excess funds by the National Government, the DOF estimates that Philhealth still has around 500 billion in excess funds.
I estimate that we need around P1.8 trillion in funds to fully finance catastrophic health needs, especially for Senior Citizens. Assuming a fund life of three years, the excess funds can already finance around 10 percent of catastrophic health care needs.
I will request that Philhealth submits a plan to spend its excess funds on better packages and accelerate paying its overdue payables.
During the budget process this year, I assure you that the predisposition of Congressional leadership is to infuse subsidies to Philhealth again. This year, government simply took the most efficient option of financing the budget with funds it does not need to pay interest for.