Lacson hopes Senate report on PhilHealth mess will be out on Monday

MANILA, Philippines — Sen. Panfilo Lacson hopes the Senate will be able to release its findings and recommendations on its investigation of alleged anomalies in the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) by Monday, Aug. 24.

“The staff of SP [Senate President Vicente Sotto III] has been working through the night with the help of my staff so that we can have the report out on Monday,” Lacson said in Filipino in an interview on Saturday over AM radio station DWIZ.

Lacson said the Committee of the Whole, which is conducting the probe, was still studying where to include in the report a suggestion to dissolve PhilHealth.

“There are many recommendations coming out. Aside from restructuring the organization, there’s another suggestion to dissolve PhilHealth. But we’re studying the implications on the health sector,” he said.

The Senate has been investigating PhilHealth officials over alleged irregularities in the release of funds of its interim reimbursement mechanism (IRM), which is a cash aid given to hospitals to help them respond to a crisis, and on alleged overpricing in its planned procurement of  IT equipment, among others.

Lacson had previously warned that PhilHealth President Ricardo Morales and the agency’s fund management chief that they would face several cases after the Senate unveiled corrupt practices in the state insurance company.

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