MANILA, Philippines — Delaying the implementation of the Universal Health Care (UHC) Law is “unlawful”, Malacañang said Thursday following Philippine Health Insurance Corp.’s (PhilHealth) appeal to halt the rollout of the program, citing its declining revenue amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Ang aking panawagan sa mga namumuno sa PhilHealth, kung hindi po ninyo mapapatupad ang isang batas na cinertify as urgent ng Presidente mismo, dahil ang nais niya magkaroon ng libreng gamot ang lahat ng Pilipino gaya ng ginawa niya sa Davao e siguro po hahanap nalang ng iba na pwedeng magpatupad niyan,” presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said in a Palace briefing.
(My call to the leadership of PhilHealth is if you cannot implement a law that was certified as urgent by the President himself, because he wants all Filipinos to have free medicine as he has done in Davao City, then maybe we should look for other people who can enforce that.)
Asked if he was warning PhilHealth President Ricardo Morales of his possible firing, Roque said: “I’m not warning (him). It’s just that it is the law that has to be implemented.”
“Gaya po ng sabi ni Sen. Bong Go kung kinakailangang tustusan galing sa kaban ng bayan, tutustusan po ‘yan. ‘Yan po talaga ang central feature ng Universal Health Care Law, hindi ito ordinaryong medical insurance,” he added.
(As Sen. Bong Go says, if it needs to be funded by the government, then it will be provided. That’s really the central feature of Universal Health Care Law, it’s not ordinary medical insurance.)
Morales, in a recent joint congressional committee hearing, called for the delayed implementation of the program due to lack of funds following a significant drop in contributions due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
President Duterte signed the UHC bill into law in February last year. But Morales previously said the full implementation of the landmark law may take up to three years, citing funding and capability issues.
The law expands access to health services by automatically enrolling all Filipinos in PhilHealth’s National Health Insurance Program (NHIP).
Roque, who co-authored UHC when he was still a lawmaker, earlier said PhilHealth was losing money due to irregularities.
He also chided Morales for failing to take action and file charges against crooks in the agency.
Answering Roque’s allegations, Morales said the Palace official should file cases in court if he has evidence of corruption involving PhilHealth.
Morales was appointed PhilHealth chief after Duterte sought the resignation of then PhilHealth chief Roy Ferrer and six board members following the Inquirer’s three-part investigative report on “ghost dialysis” treatments, overpayments and other fraudulent practices, and a “mafia” behind padded claims.