Marcos appoints former DOH exec Beverly Ho as PhilHealth chief

President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. has appointed former Health Undersecretary Beverly Lorraine Ho as president and chief executive officer of the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth).

Ho was appointed to the helm of the PhilHealth after Marcos appointed erstwhile PhilHealth chief Dr. Edwin Mercado as the new secretary of health. Dr. Jose “Brix” Pujalte had stepped down from the top post of the Department of Health (DOH).

She is the Chief Healthcare Officer of Ayala Healthcare Holdings, Inc.

Before her stint in the private sector, Ho was an undersecretary of the DOH and was one of the health officials who spoke on behalf of the department during the COVID-19 pandemic.

She was the undersecretary and officer-in-charge of the Public Health Services Team, director of the Health Promotion Bureau, and director of the Disease Prevention and Control Bureau.

Ho was also a special assistant to the Secretary of Health for Universal Health Coverage and was an alternate representative to the PhilHealth Board and chairperson of its benefits committee.

She was also chief of the research division of the DOH’s Health Policy Development and planning bureau.

Ho was among the Ten Outstanding Young Men in 2022 and the Ten Outstanding Young Women for Nation Service also in 2022.

She got her degree in medicine from the University of the Philippines and her master’s degree in public health from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.