20k fraudulent claims being probed in PhilHealth, says Morales

Around 20,000 cases of fraudulent claims are still being investigated by the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation, according to its chief Ricardo Morales on Tuesday.

"'Yung korapsyon ho dito sa PhilHealth matagal na ho ito, inabot ko ho ito. As a matter of fact tuloy-tuloy po ang imbestigasyon namin. Sa ngayon ho may mga 20,000 cases of fraudulent claims na nakabinbin ho sa aming legal sector, sa prosecution, sa arbitration at sa regional offices so tuloy-tuloy ho 'yan," Morales said in a Senate hearing.

He underscored that the state insurer has 109 million members and processes up to 32,000 claims daily.

Morales reiterated that upgrading its IT system and database would significantly stem the fraud in the state insurer.

He mentioned that in the current database of PhilHealth, some 5,000 members are 130 years old.During the same hearing, Morales said around P10.2 billion could have been lost in PhilHealth due to fraud in 2019 and this could double next year should the issue remain unaddressed.

He also admitted that the PhilHealth's anti-fraud operation remained inadequate even after 128 employees were hired last year for such efforts. -NB, GMA News