Senate President Francis Escudero announced that the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth) will not receive a subsidy in the 2025 General Appropriations Act due to its repeated failure to fulfill its mandate. This decision highlights growing frustration over the agency’s inefficiency, mismanagement, and inability to utilize its funds effectively.
Fifty percent of tobacco excise tax collections—earmarked for PhilHealth and health facility enhancements—are intended to ensure universal health insurance coverage for Filipinos. However, despite record-high collections of P176 billion in 2021, followed by P160 billion in 2022 and P135 billion in 2023, many Filipinos continue to face high premiums without comprehensive health coverage.
Escudero criticized PhilHealth’s absorptive capacity, stating, “This should serve as a wake-up call. Doing their job is not a slap on their faces. We will not reward their failure by allocating funds that won’t be used.” He also called out the agency for sitting on a massive P600 billion reserve fund while failing to provide adequate health benefits.
Health Secretary Teodoro Herbosa, who chairs the PhilHealth board, echoed these sentiments, calling for a leadership overhaul. “The board has been instructing management to fix its act, but they have failed. Management must be changed,” Herbosa said in a national TV interview.
PhilHealth’s utilization rate for its 2024 budget stands at a mere 61 percent, far below government standards. Herbosa also raised concerns about rumors of a “PhilHealth mafia” and emphasized the need for stricter fiscal discipline. He proposed that PhilHealth maintain only a two-year buffer of around P150 billion, in line with the Universal Health Care Law, instead of hoarding an estimated P500 billion in reserve funds.
Renowned cardiologist and health advocate Dr. Willie Ong also criticized PhilHealth’s “hoarding mentality.” He argued that the agency should prioritize providing life-saving treatments, such as chemotherapy, heart procedures, and advanced medical scans, over accumulating funds. “The goal of PhilHealth is to help its poor members, not to hoard money. PhilHealth is not a bank,” Ong stated.
Ong further stressed the need for accountability, pointing out that lives have been lost due to PhilHealth’s failure to utilize its resources effectively. He urged the agency to follow the Universal Health Care Law and use its funds to serve the Filipino people.
The calls for reform, accountability, and efficiency underscore the urgency of fixing the ailing health insurance system to ensure that it delivers on its promise of universal healthcare for all Filipinos.