MANILA, Philippines — Supreme Court Associate Justice Antonio Kho Jr. on Tuesday suggested that it may be time to overhaul the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth) due to its alleged failure to properly manage its budget as required by law.
Kho made the statement during the oral arguments on the controversial transfer of P89.9 billion in PhilHealth’s excess reserve funds to the National Treasury.
Questioning PhilHealth’s Budget Practices
During the hearing, Kho questioned the basis of PhilHealth’s budget request in the General Appropriations Act (GAA), which, by law, should be funded through various tax collections, including those from sin taxes and gaming revenues.
“Probably it’s time to overhaul PhilHealth and change the board for not complying with what the law requires,” Kho told Department of Health (DOH) spokesperson Albert Domingo.
“Hindi kasalanan ng tao ‘yan for not availing all of these benefits. Apparently, from your own words, kasalanan ‘yan ng administration, this administration, last administration, or the previous administration, at kasalanan ‘yan ng PhilHealth board,” he added.
(This is not the people’s fault for not availing of these benefits. Apparently, from your own words, that is the fault of the administration—this administration, the last administration, or the previous administration—and the PhilHealth board.)
PhilHealth’s Budgeting Approach Under Scrutiny
Kho further pressed PhilHealth’s method of determining its budget, emphasizing that the law explicitly states that its funds must come from:
- Total incremental sin tax collections
- 50 percent of the national government’s share from Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR) revenues
- 40 percent of the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) charity fund, excluding documentary stamp tax payments
- Mandatory premium contributions from members
- Annual appropriations of the DOH under the GAA
- National government subsidies allocated through the GAA
However, Domingo admitted that the DOH uses a different formula than what the law prescribes.
“It does not refer to the computation on the sin tax allocation,” Domingo explained, clarifying that PhilHealth calculates its budget request based on the number of indirect members multiplied by the corporation’s premium rate.
Kho then questioned whether PhilHealth was disregarding its legally mandated funding sources. Domingo responded that PhilHealth prioritizes needs-based allocation rather than relying solely on government revenue projections.
Limiting Funds, Limiting Healthcare
Kho criticized PhilHealth for setting its own budgetary limits, arguing that this approach prevents the agency from fully addressing the healthcare needs of Filipinos.
“The problem is PhilHealth limits the funding so that you don’t address the health needs of the Filipino people. If you increase the budget by 200 percent, I don’t think the Filipinos would not avail of that. You define your own limits,” he pointed out.
He further questioned whether PhilHealth’s budget request ignored the congressional allocation of funds for healthcare subsidies.
“The Congress allocates budgets, provides collections of taxes to answer for the subsidy of PhilHealth for indirect contributors. Now, when you request money for subsidy, does that mean you will disregard that? You will make your own formula, because you have limited understanding, need of our people for health?” he said.
Calls for Returning PhilHealth’s P60 Billion
Domingo acknowledged that the Marcos administration agrees with Kho’s concerns, calling it a “strong signal” for PhilHealth to expand its healthcare benefits.
Kho emphasized that this recognition should also prompt the government to return the P60 billion that PhilHealth had remitted to the National Treasury.
“As long as the government recognizes now, it is now incumbent on the part of the government to return the 60 billion that was transmitted already because it is recognized now,” he said.
He suggested that PhilHealth could formally request President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to return the funds, which could then be used to enhance benefits and hire more personnel to improve the country’s healthcare system.
“Return that to PhilHealth to expand its benefits, hire more people to answer for the needs of the health of our people,” Kho added.
