Roque to refer to OP body allegations of overpriced COVID-19 testing package

Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque on Thursday said he will refer to the Office of the Special Assistant to the President (OSAP) the issue on the alleged overpricing in the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation's (PhilHealth) COVID-19 testing package.

Roque said he will forward the transcript of the Senate inquiry on the matter and other presentations to guide the OSAP, which is under the Office of the President. The OSAP is headed by Undersecretary Jesus Melchor Quitain.

“Siya po ang gumawa ng unang imbestigasyon sa PhilHealth na nagresulta sa pagtanggal ng ilang miyembro ng board of directors ng Philhealth,” Roque said in a televised briefing.

He was referring to last year’s controversy involving PhilHealth’s alleged funding of dialysis treatment for patients who are already deceased, which prompted President Rodrigo Duterte to ask for the resignations of the agency’s top officials.

Roque added he will no longer comment on the issue since he was the lawyer of two former employees of a dialysis center allegedly involved in ghost treatments.

Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon earlier urged the Department of Health to look into the pricing of PhilHealth’s testing package.

Drilon said that PhilHealth will shoulder the cost for P8,150 per test, double the price from the private sector, including the Philippine Red Cross, can do the same test for only P4,000.

Responding to Drilon’s concern, PhilHealth president Ricardo Morales told a Senate inquiry on the COVID-19 situation on Wednesday that they will review the package, which he said was based on early data.

"[N]ow that we have more data, and as you said there are more test kits coming in that are actually cheaper, we will incorporate this in our case rate," Morales said.  — RSJ, GMA News