NO FUNDS FOR INDIGENTS IN 2025
The Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth) will receive no subsidy for the indigent sector in 2025 due to its P600 billion in reserve funds.
The bicameral conference committee approved the 2025 budget on December 11. It now awaits the signature of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. before the year ends.
According to Senate President Francis Escudero, PhilHealth can still operate effectively without any subsidy in the 2025 General Appropriations Bill (GAB). He added that the subsidy reduction serves as a reminder for PhilHealth to fulfill its mandate, including settling its debts with both private and public hospitals.
Prior to the Republic Act 11223 or the Universal Healthcare Law took effect in 2019, indigents such as senior citizens, persons with disabilities (PWDs), single parents, and disadvantaged groups were subsidized by either the national or local government.
Senate finance committee chair Grace Poe also said the funds for PhilHealth were realigned to sectors which have no funding for 2025.
“Sa ngayon, ang PhilHealth ay hindi nabigyan ng budget. Sapagkat kailangan nilang gamitin muna yung kanilang reserve funds,” Poe said during a media interview.
“Ang PhilHealth ngayon, kung hindi ako nagkakamali, merong P600 billion na reserve funds. Naka-deposito lang yan sa kung anong account nila nilalagay, but definitely kung anong kinikita niyan, mas maliit pa sa, mas mababa pa sa inflation. So, lugi pa yung gobyerno,” Poe added.
‘Unfair, illegal, unconstitutional’
Senate Deputy Minority leader Risa Hontiveros, however, called the zero subsidy as “unfair, illegal, and potentially unconstitutional.”
“Denying PhilHealth support to pay the premium contribution of the most vulnerable is to deny Filipinos our right to health,” Hontiveros said. “Obligasyon ng gobyerno na bayaran ang premiums ng mga indirect contributors, kabilang ang mga mahihirap, senior citizens at PWDs. Kapag inabandona ito ng gobyerno, ang papasan dito ay ang mga ordinaryong mamamayan na buwan-buwan kinakaltasan ng PhilHealth.”
“Paano na lang ang mga kababayang hindi makakapagbayad ng kanilang premium contribution? Malaking dagok ito sa mithiin nating magkaroon ng universal healthcare sa bansa. “
Under the Universal Health Care Law, indigent subsidies were shifted to be funded through the Sin Tax Law (RA 10351). The PhilHealth charter, the Sin Tax Law and the Universal Health Care Act mandate that portions of certain taxes go to the state health insurer.
Dr. Tony Leachon, an independent health reform advocate, also condemned the proposed zero subsidy for the health sector as a betrayal of the Universal Health Care Law which aims to provide accessible healthcare for all Filipinos.
Leachon penned an open letter to Marcos on December 15 urging him to veto the 2025 GAA which, if signed as is, could severely impact the healthcare system in the country.
In his letter, Leachon mentioned real-life consequences of such inadequate funding describing situations of ordinary Filipinos including mothers, farmers, and elderly citizens who will suffer due to insufficient resources.
House appropriations committee vice chair Ako Bicol Representative Raul Angelo Bongalon said he will file a resolution calling for a congressional probe into the reserve funds of PhilHealth.