The PhilHealth Local Health Insurance Office (LHIO) in Caloocan. —Photo from the PhilHealth website
MANILA, Philippines — The 2025 corporate operating budget (COB) of the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) is a “do nothing” budget.
This is what Medical Action Group (MAG), a group advocating for health and human rights, and Action for Economic Reforms (AER), a macroeconomics reform advocate, said on Friday, following PhilHealth board approval of the P284 billion COB for 2025.
Article continues after this advertisementIn a joint statement, the groups explained the tag, saying that the budget “shows an increase of only 10 percent when its expenditure for 2024 was already higher by 22 percent over the previous year.”
FEATURED STORIES NEWSINFO 6 officials promoted in PNP revamp NEWSINFO DOH reminds of safe travel practices during holidays NEWSINFO Marcos vows to equip AFP vs cybersecurity threatsThe groups added that the 10 percent increase in the budget from 2024 would be “insufficient” to support the increase in benefit payouts for the last six months.
PhilHealth previously said that of the total budget, P271 billion would be allotted for benefit expenses where the increase is accounted for in the board-approved increase in case rates, Z benefits, PhilHealth Konsulta at P1,700 and P2,100 capitation per person, and 156 hemodialysis sessions at P6,350 per session.
Article continues after this advertisement“This limited budget will further delay any significant rollout of the primary care benefit package – the Konsulta package – that supports the mandate of the Universal Health Care [Act] to register all Filipinos with a primary care provider,” the statement added.
This was the remark of Kristalina Georgieva, who has just started her second five-year term as managing director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), on Thursday, before the IMF and the World Bank’s annual gathering of financial leaders in Washington next week.
Article continues after this advertisementREAD: Zero PhilHealth subsidy will affect Konsulta package – doctor
Article continues after this advertisementThe two groups also pointed out that defunding PhilHealth would put a burden on the ordinary Filipino working class, emphasizing that it “destroys social health insurance, particularly the principle of solidarity and the pooling of resources.”
They then urged President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to order Congress to reinstate PhilHealth’s full premium subsidy of P150 billion for its indirect contributors for 2025.
Article continues after this advertisementIn a separate statement, MAG also called on Marcos to veto the 2025 budget, citing that providing a zero subsidy for PhilHealth would violate the Universal Healthcare Act and Sin Tax Reform Law.
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