Alleged PhilHealth fraud has patient going out to feed the pigs, says Zubiri

Some hospitals are collecting huge amounts of money from the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. through fake patients, Senate Majority Leader Juan Miguel Zubiri claimed on Tuesday.

Zubiri said investigators told him that a patient even said that he just went out to feed the pigs when asked why he wasn't at his hospital bed when inspectors came.

"Checking the logbook of patients, and inspecting the rooms kung saan po sila natutulog, kung saan dapat sila nakalagay, wala po silang mahanap na tao o pasyente sa lugar na yun. 'Di po nila mahanap ang mga pasynte na 'yun," Zubiri said.

"When asked, the hospital staff would say that they will call the patients and the patients would arrive and go back to their beds. When asked where they came from, may isa daw na sumagot, 'nagpakain lang sila ng baboy,' and other excuses which are absurd excuses to say the least," he added.

Zubiri said investigators whom he talked to have bared the unscrupulous practices they discovered in some provinces through surprise visits.

Other health care inspectors are also paying P1,000 to fake patients so they could claim higher amounts from the state insurer, Zubiri said.

Aside from this tactic, the senator said some HCIs are also practicing upcasing by giving patients losartan for hypertension then claiming the case rate as mild stroke to charge PhilHealth as high as P 25,000 per claim.

The PhilHealth officials present in the hearing have yet to comment on the allegations as of posting time. -NB, GMA News