‘PhilHealth’s finances not affected by COVID-19’

MANILA, Philippines — Concerns that the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) may be taking a financial hit due to the coronavirus pandemic have no basis, Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph Recto said yesterday.

Of the state health insurer’s operating budget of around P140 billion, only P3.4 billion has so far been spent for testing and treatment of PhilHealth, members based on the data on its COVID-19-related reimbursements, Recto said during the Senate debate on the Department of Health’s 2021 budget.

Recto said PhilHealth’s overall payouts may even be lower this year due to lower hospital admissions.

“When it comes to seeking medical treatments, people are postponing them. They’ve become risk-averse. Many are afraid to go to hospitals,” he said.

“There is also a dip in reimbursements from victims of vehicular accidents. This is just only anecdotal. But there is no reason to doubt the observation that less traffic on the roads leads to fewer accidents,” he added.

Recto, however, concedes that there might be a dip in the premium payments of private sector members who have lost their jobs, “but these are small accounts in the revenue stream.”

He said PhilHealth sources the bulk of its revenues from the government through “regular, predicted and mandated annual appropriations” to place the entire population under health insurance coverage.

For this, the agency got P71.35 billion as premium payments for low-income households. Next year, it is programmed to receive the same amount.

As of September this year, PhilHealth has a reserve fund of P108.4 billion, and a separate P28.6 billion for lifetime members.