PhilHealth funds enough to sustain payout in Bicol

By Ernesto Delgado

LEGAZPI CITY --- The Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (Philhealth) has enough funds to sustain payouts in the Bicol region despite the state-run health insurer receiving zero government subsidy for this year.

PhilHealth Vice President for Bicol Alberto Manduriao made this assurance during the Kapihan sa Bagong Pilipinas media forum last week, stressing that even non-paying members can continue accessing benefit packages despite Congress’ decision to remove budgetary support from the 2025 national budget.

Manduriao said that PhilHealth has adequate resources to cover inpatient, outpatient, and special benefit packages for its more than six million members in Bicol this year.

“There is no problem because PhilHealth has funds set aside for paying the benefits of all our members,” he said, explaining that PhilHealth operates with its corporate budget.

“Removing the subsidy does not prevent us from paying all benefits to our members,” Manduriao said. “As ordered by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., we will continue to pay the claims of our members.”

Manduriao acknowledged the rationale provided by Congress for eliminating the government budgetary support to PhilHealth.

“PhilHealth indeed has sufficient funds in 2025 to reimburse claims,” he said.

For the Bicol region, PhilHealth has allocated P4.1 billion to cover inpatient, outpatient, and special benefit packages for over six million members, according to Manduriao.

In a separate event, Manduriao said that with the recent appointment of Edwin Marcado as the new President and Chief Executive Officer of PhilHealth, the agency will make a concerted effort to enhance its processes through digitization.

Manduriao said that the system arising from the conversion and recording of data will streamline claims processing, minimize fraudulent activities, and promote greater transparency.

According to Manduriao, there were no delays in payments in Bicol last year.

A total of P5.7 billion was disbursed for 619,400 “good claims” in the region in 2024, he said.

He added that the turnaround time for payments in Bicol is 14 days, which is significantly shorter than the 60 days allowed by law.

“The delay that has been raised by some individuals pertains to claims that were either returned to hospitals or denied due to non-compliance with PhilHealth policies,” he said.

“For those claims returned to the hospitals, our systems indicate a deficiency that the hospital needs to address to ensure compliance,” he added. (PIA 5/Masbate)