The PhilHealth Local Health Insurance Office in Caloocan

MANILA, Philippines — Due to its whopping P600-billion reserve funds, the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) will be getting zero subsidy for 2025, Sen. Grace Poe confirmed on Wednesday.

Speaking to reporters in an ambush interview after the bicameral conference committee closed its final budget meeting, Poe said PhilHealth’s budget is among the very contentious provisions of the 2025 budget bill.

“We saw [in] PhilHealth the subsidies given by the government that they are not even using. If I am not mistaken, PhilHealth now has P600 billion in reserve funds. That is just deposited in; I don’t know what account they are putting it in, but definitely what they are earning from that is even smaller, even lower than inflation,” she said in Filipino

With this arrangement, Poe said the government is at a huge loss. According to her, PhilHealth needs to use its reserve funds first.

“Because it’s just wasted. Why are they just storing it there? They’re not using it. So, in those sectors that really don’t have funds, that’s where we put the excess from others that we know they don’t need,” she added.

When asked if PhilHealth will be getting its entire subsidy for next year, Poe simply said “It was not given.”

Hontiveros: ‘PhilHealth zero subsidy is unfair’

Meanwhile, Sen. Risa Hontiveros expressed alarm over the bicameral conference committee’s move, saying that denying PhilHealth support to pay the premium contribution of the most vulnerable is to deny Filipinos the right to health.

“This zero subsidy is unfair, illegal, and potentially unconstitutional. How about Filipinos who cannot pay their premium contributions? This is a major blow to our goal of having universal healthcare in the country,” Hontiveros said in a statement issued on Wednesday.

The opposition senator said it is the government’s obligation to pay for the “premiums” of indirect contributors, including the poor, senior citizens, and persons with disabilities.

“Even though PhilHealth supposedly has excess or reserve funds, laws say it must be funded. It is ironic that PhilHealth gets zero subsidy on the eve of International Universal Health Coverage Day, especially when the UN makes it clear that health is the government’s responsibility,” she added.

In a separate message to reporters, Hontiveros maintained that the reserve funds of PhilHealth cannot be used for premium payment of indirect contributors.

“It’s like an emergency fund, for future financial obligations. The mistakes and shortcomings of PhilHealth’s leadership must be corrected, but its members must not be harmed,” she explained.

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