THE Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth) has assured lawmakers in the House of Representatives that they have sufficient funds to cover their new expanded health benefit packages.
During a hearing of the House Committee on Health, chaired by Batanes Rep. Ciriaco Gato Jr., PhilHealth officials, led by President and Chief Executive Officer Emmanuel Ledesma Jr., revealed that they had P492 billion in cash on hand as of December 31, 2024.
This amount is expected to increase in 2025, with PhilHealth anticipating P203 billion in collections from direct contributors, including government and private sector employees, exceeding the P178 billion collected in 2024.
This, according to PhilHealth officials, is more than enough to cover the P271 billion needed for both existing and new health packages, which include outpatient services, particularly those who visit emergency rooms (ER) but are discharged after a few hours.
PhilHealth will also increase its contribution for heart disease patients. The coverage for percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) or coronary angioplasty will rise from P30,000 to P540,000. For kidney transplants, PhilHealth’s coverage will increase from P600,000 to P1 million for living donors and P2.14 million for deceased donors.
These are just some of the new health packages introduced by PhilHealth after the government faced criticism for not providing subsidies under the 2025 General Appropriations Act (GAA).
“So P271 billion is the total new number for total expected benefit packages in 2025. So we have funds. We are liquid. We can fund this, these packages that we are talking about,” assured Marikina Rep. Stella Quimbo, who was supported by Ledesma.
“Hopefully, we can implement this quickly and efficiently,” added Quimbo, acting chair of the House Appropriations Committee.
metrosundaily
