The Department of Health (DOH), as supervising agency of the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth) assured that health benefits of the national health insurance agency will continue with or without subsidy from the forthcoming General Appropriations Act. All of its inpatient, outpatient, and special benefit packages continue to be available.
Since August 2024, the PhilHealth Board has already approved new or improved benefit packages for hemodialysis, peritoneal dialysis, dengue, PhilHealth Konsulta, heart attacks.
It has also approved for implementation benefits for rare diseases, oral/dental health, physical medicine and rehabilitation including assistive devices like wheelchairs, and kidney transplantation.
Five more new or improved benefits are already for approval before the Christmas break, including those for emergency care, glasses for children, another round of increases in case rates, open heart surgery, heart valve repair or replacement, and cataract extraction especially in children.
“The job of PhilHealth is to pay the health benefits of its members, with or without subsidy from the General Appropriations Act,” Secretary Ted Herbosa said.
“The DOH is confident that it has enough money to continue and even improve operations.”
“We reviewed the financial statements of PhilHealth together with its established performance, and the DOH is confident that it has enough money to continue and even improve operations,” Herbosa, the chair of the PhilHealth Board, added.
“PhilHealth has the cash on hand to continue and even improve benefit delivery well into the next two to three years.”
The DOH is confident that PhilHealth has the cash on hand to continue and even improve benefit delivery well into the next two to three years.
Total benefit spending in 2023 was at P74 billion. From January 1 to September 30, 2024, with just three remaining months to the year end, benefit spending has been estimated to be at P135 billion.
At the end of Calendar Year 2023, its accumulated net income was recorded to be P463.7 billion. Following the Universal Health Care Act, PhilHealth has already secured a Reserve Fund of P280.6 billion good for two years’ worth of benefit and other operating expenses.
The social health insurance agency counted its surplus fund balance to be at least P183.1 billion at the start of 2024.
