Bulatlat News
By JADE ABERIN
Bulatlat.com
MANILA – Various groups denounced the government’s plan to transfer alleged excess health funds even if health care remains inaccessible to the poor.
The Department of Finance’s (DOF) recently issued Circular No. 003-2024 ordering the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) to transfer P89.9 billion of unused funds to bolster the government’s unprogrammed appropriations.
PhilHealth is the government’s health insurance program.
“PhilHealth brings in significant revenue, particularly from OFWs, who contributed over P222 million to the fund last year. Yet, despite this, many Filipinos still struggle to access health care without shouldering high costs themselves,” former Gabriela Women’s Party Rep. Liza Maza said.
Health advocates said that the transfer of unprogrammed funds violates Republic Act No. 11223 or the Universal Health Care (UHC) Act of 2019.
According to Section 11 of this law, any excess in PhilHealth reserve funds at the end of the fiscal year should be used to enhance program benefits and reduce member contribution amounts.
Maza, co-chair of the Makabayan coalition, said that these funds should be used to enhance benefit packages and expand health coverage for the country’s poorest and most vulnerable citizens, including migrant workers and their families.
Read: Under a fragmented health care, Philippines is ill-equipped in combating COVID-19
Read: #NoGoldenEra | In 2023, public health still not a priority
“It’s frustrating to see that, despite their substantial contributions, neither they nor their families in the Philippines receive adequate benefits from the system,” she added.
Out of pocket expenses
Data released by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) reveal that the household out-of-pocket payment is still the highest contribution among the health care financing schemes, with a 44.4-percent share to the total Current Health Expenditure (CHE).
This is two percentage points higher than the government’s compulsory health care financing schemes (42.6 percent). Meanwhile, voluntary health care financing is pegged at 13 percent.
“On a per capita basis, health spending went up to PhP 11,083 in 2023, an increase of 8.3 percent from the PhP 10,238 expense in 2022,” the PSA said in its report.
This is despite the increase in member contributions from 4.5 percent to 5 percent in January 2024. Back then, Migrante International, a migrant rights group, said that it was nothing but a “financial burden,” especially as overseas Filipino workers cannot use the supposed benefits.
“The truth is that OFWs do not benefit from PhilHealth as its coverage is only in the Philippines. When OFWs get sick or need medical attention abroad, they are subject to considerable medical fees and costs in other countries and survive through the insurance packages that they pay for,” the group said in a press release early this year.
Where to bring funds
Former Department of Health official Dr. Tony Leachon said that excess funds should not have been transferred to unprogrammed appropriations within the national budget when “PhilHealth has been ineffective at carrying out its mandate of ensuring affordable, acceptable, available and accessible health-care services for all citizens of the Philippines.”
For his part, Finance Secretary Ralph Recto said in a Senate committee hearing that these funds could boost economic growth and create jobs.
Recto said that PhilHealth has more than enough funds in its P500-billion ($8.7 billion) benefit chest fund to cover the long-term claims of its members. In addition, the national government would keep providing subsidies to the agency.
“According to them (PhilHealth), this is more than enough and perfectly sufficient for payments and multi-year claims,” he claimed.
However, health advocates stressed that even with the so-called “excess” funds, PhilHealth’s resources are still insufficient
Dr. Antonio Dans, spokesperson of Health Care Alliance Against Covid-19 (HPAAC), reported at the Senate committee hearing that the Philippines ranks third among ASEAN countries for the highest out-of-pocket (OOP) health expenditures, amounting to 45.95 percent of total health expenses per household. OOP refers to medical costs paid by patients that are not covered by government or private insurance.
“Let’s not take PhilHealth’s money because hundreds of thousands of patients continue to plead and suffer every day due to insufficient funds for their healthcare“ Dans said at the senate hearing.
Read: High health expenses, inaccessible health services plague poor Filipinos
Leachon explained that under the UHC Act, all citizens are automatically entitled to PhilHealth benefits, including comprehensive outpatient services.
For effective implementation of these benefits, the DOH-OSEC and PhilHealth need a total budget of Php 2.34 trillion ($41.1 billion), Php 1.68 trillion ($29.5 trillion), and Php 1.22 trillion ($21.4 trillion) for the fiscal years 2023 to 2026, under high, medium, and low scenarios, respectively. These funds are expected to come from sin tax collections and income from Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR) and Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) which are not even sufficient according to him.
“It has been five years since the [UHC] was enacted. Notwithstanding its implementation, we have yet to achieve the desired level of high-cost estimate which requires PhP 577 billion ($10.1 billion) funding requirement in 2024, with the end-goal to cover all barangays nationwide. Therefore, at the outset, there are no excess funds to speak of; rather, a deficit.” Leachon said. (JJE, RTS, DAA) 
