Gordon eyes creation of PhilHealth watchdog
PRESIDENT’S IRE WellMed Dialysis Center has caught the ire of President Rodrigo Duterte who ordered on Saturday the arrest of its owner, who allegedly filed claims for “ghost” dialysis sessions, defrauding state-run Philippine Health Insurance Corp. of millions of pesos. —INQUIRER FILE PHOTO
MANILA, Philippines — Senator Richard Gordon said he will push for the creation of “a special independent unit within the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth)” that will look into fraudulent claims.
“You know, one of the bills I will file is to create a special unit to investigate insurance fraud within PhilHealth. Dapat may special unit do’n, tinitignan lang niyan palagi kung merong fraud. Para mabilis, para may ebidensya,” Gordon said in a weekly press forum at the Senate in Pasay City on Thursday.
Gordon also said that creating a special unit within PhilHealth will help the agency in handling its own investigation into fraudulent claims.
“Yo’ng PhilHealth, dapat talaga inaayos natin yang mga yan, because umaasa ang mga tao diyan,” he said.
“Ire-rely mo sa NBI (National Bureau of Investigation) [yo’ng investigation]? Busy and NBI. Pulis? Busy ‘yan. Dapat may unit within PhilHealth, independent na iimbestigahan yo’ng mga fraudulent claims,” he further noted.
Article continues after this advertisementPhilHealth recently found itself embroiled in a “ghost” kidney treatment scandal, which allegedly cost the state insurance agency more than P800,000 from dialysis of patients who had long been dead.
Article continues after this advertisementAccording to Gordon, the Philippine Statistics Office (PSA) should also step up in prompting agencies, which handle pension payments, when someone passes away.
“I am calling on the government, na yung national statistics office, PSA, dapat pag may namatay, diba dapat computerized na yan? Na pag may namatay, bato kagad sa veterans, bato kagad sa PhilHealth?” he said.
“Dapat sa SSS (Social Security System…gawin mo lang yung sa PSA, dapat, pag may namatay merong signal na dapat sa mga agencies na yan na nagpapayad ng mga retirement,” he added./ac
