Gov’t ready to give subsidy to PhilHealth if agency runs out of money — Palace

The government will inject funds into the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) in case the state insurer runs out of money to sustain its operations, Malacañang said Tuesday.

Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque gave the assurance after PhilHealth's acting Senior Vice President Nerissa Santiago said in a Senate inquiry earlier in the day that the state insurer will run out of reserve funds and into deficit by 2021.

She attributed the financial forecast to "decreased collections" and an "expected increase in benefit payouts" caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

“As author of the universal healthcare [law], we never even for one minute considered that the survival of PhilHealth will solely be by reason of premiums,” presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said in a televised briefing.

“Alam po namin na hindi makakamit ang libreng gamot at libreng pagamot kung premiums lang ang panggagalingan ng gagastusin ng PhilHealth. Kung maubos ang pera ng PhilHealth, gobyerno po ang magbibigay ng pondo kaya nga po ang tawag diyan universal healthcare, hindi medical insurance.”

Santiago said that PhilHealth can only survive through government subsidies as the agency sees an operating loss of P147 billion if the pandemic continues into 2021.

PhilHealth officials faced the Senate hearing amid allegations of irregularities in the agency.

Roque said the Palace’s parallel investigation is “quietly” being conducted by Undersecretary Jesus Melchor Quitain of the Office of the Special Assistant to the President. — RSJ, GMA News