PhilHealth fraud must end before alcohol tax is increased —Gatchalian

Corruption at the state-run Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) needed to stop before the Senate would pass a measure that would raise excise taxes on alcohol products, Senator Sherwin Gatchalian said Sunday.

"Nung 17th Congress, we raised the tobacco excise tax precisely to fund the Universal Health Care Program. It also serves as a dual purpose and that is to reduce the consumption of cigarettes," Gatchalian explained in an emailed statement.

"Ngayon, nandito ulit tayo para taasan naman yung buwis sa alcohol, precisely to fund the UHC program, through PhilHealth. Pero lumalabas sa reports na ang laki ng nawawala sa PhilHealth dahil sa korapsyon."

President Rodrigo Duterte in February signed into law the Universal Health Care Act, which automatically enrolled all Filipinos into the National Health Insurance Program.

Under the measure, those who have the capacity to pay are classified as direct contributors, while indigents and senior citizens are classified as indirect contributors sponsored by the government.

However, citing Senator Panfilo Lacson's privilege speech, Gatchalian said audit reports found that PhilHealth made overpayments in at least 20 percent of the 6,128 cases recorded by the Commission on Audit from 2013 to 2018.

According to Gatchalian, this translated to an overpayment of P102.5 billion, a fifth of the P512.6 billion in benefit claims paid during the said years.

"Ito po ay nakakabahala. P102.5 billion ang nawala sa overpayment ng PhilHealth," said the senator.

"Samantalang sa isang facility pa lamang, sa WellMed, P300 million ang naibayad ng PhilHealth sa mga ghost or non-existing patients. And now we are talking about raising taxes to be given to an agency that is plagued with corruption."

The WellMed Dialysis Center in Quezon City was supposedly involved in over 8,000 cases of fraudulent acts ranging from ghost patients to false claims and the misrepresentation of patients.

“Parang tinataasan natin yung buwis para pondohan yung korapsyon na nangyayari sa loob ng Philhealth," argued Gatchalian. "Sa ngayon, sa mga lumalabas na issues at sa mga comments sa aming hearing, na walang control or walang sistema sa loob ng PhilHealth kaya marami pong ganitong korapsyon."

PhilHealth had earlier said they were conducting their own investigation on the matter.

For its part, WellMed denied allegations that it has been claiming the benefits of deceased patients.

In July, PhilHealth President Ricardo Morales said the agency would be reorganized to handle the increased workload once the UHC was in full swing. — Jon Viktor Cabuenas/DVM, GMA News