PhilHealth has P311B in unreleased funds – lawmaker

MANILA, Philippines — About P311 billion in state funding for the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) remains unreleased, Bataan Rep. Albert Garcia said Thursday.

Garcia revealed this while sponsoring the health sector’s spending plan for 2027 during a congressional budget debate.

He said P199.44 billion in obligatory funding from sin tax collections, revenues from the country’s gaming regulator and sweepstakes proceeds remained unappropriated from 2019 to 2027. This included P133.22 billion from sin tax collections and P62.22 billion from the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (Pagcor) and Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO).

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Another P112.04 billion was appropriated but not yet released to PhilHealth, he added.

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Garcia also supported calls for more allocations after PhilHealth’s earmarked funding for 2027 fell to P73 billion from the P379 billion requested.

READ: PhilHealth eyes faster benefit expansion to cut out-of-pocket costs

PhilHealth sources funding from direct contributors who can pay their own premiums, while the government subsidizes those unable to do so through excise tax collections on alcohol and tobacco, with additional revenues from Pagcor and PCSO.

“If this P311.4 billion was given religiously by the National Government, what could this have done in terms of expanding the benefits of our members?” 4K Rep. Iris Montes asked Garcia.

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“Speculatively, if it were given, the out-of-pocket expenses of our families or individuals might be greatly reduced by 10 to 15 percent,” Garcia responded.

Households’ out-of-pocket spending accounted for 41.2 percent of total health expenditures last year, according to Philippine Statistics Authority data. /mcm