PhilHealth ready to pay Red Cross

The Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) has guaranteed that it can pay the P930 million it owed the Philippine Red Cross (PRC) for conducting coronavirus tests for the government, but it wanted to make sure that its memorandum of agreement (MOA) with the humanitarian organization is above board.

The state health insurer on Thursday said it would wait for the opinion of the Department of Justice (DOJ) “for legal guidance on how to proceed with its payment to the PRC.”

“PhilHealth is reiterating that it has the funds to pay its obligations to PRC,” it said.

PhilHealth asked the public for “patience and understanding,” saying it wanted to “move forward with this partnership (with PRC) with the proper legal support, all in aid of ensuring that members’ funds are properly handled and disbursed.”

Collection problem

On Oct. 15, the PRC announced it would no longer conduct COVID-19 tests chargeable to PhilHealth because the total unpaid tests has ballooned to P930 million.

As of Wednesday, around 6,000 overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) have been “stranded” in quarantine hotels since they have to wait several days to get their COVID-19 test results and be cleared to go home if they test negative.

The Department of Labor and Employment warned that the number of stranded OFWs will increase quickly since thousands are repatriated daily.

Aside from arriving OFWs, the PRC is also responsible for testing passengers in airports and seaports, those asking for COVID-19 tests in government swabbing facilities, front-line health and government workers, and others included in the expanded testing guidelines of the Department of Health (DOH).

The PRC charges the testing fee of P3,500 to PhilHealth.

According to PhilHealth, it has paid the PRC P1.6 billion as of Sept. 20 for at least 433,263 tests.

On Thursday, the DOH said 10 private laboratories have volunteered to increase their testing volume alongside 11 government laboratories to compensate for PRC’s stoppage of testing.

“We recognize the fact that Philippine Red Cross has a big contribution to the daily laboratory outputs since their laboratories are distributed nationwide. So yes, we are affected by the stopping of operations of the Philippine Red Cross,” Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said in an online press briefing.

She said the private laboratories who volunteered may begin handling more tests this weekend, after clearing the protocols in order not to hamper their original operations.

Filling the gap

“They are now receiving the specimens coming from the different areas for testing. Having more of them will help prevent bottlenecks caused by the stoppage of the operation of the Philippine Red Cross,” Vergeire said.

The DOJ is now reviewing the agreement between the PhilHealth and the PRC over the conduct of COVID-19 tests for the government.

“The DOJ is reviewing the MOA between the Philippine Red Cross and PhilHealth and will render an opinion within the week,” Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra told reporters in a Viber message on Thursday.

He said the “whole MOA” is covered by the DOJ review “but more particularly on procurement issues.”

Guevarra said the DOJ opinion was requested by PhilHealth “before it makes a decision to pay its indebtedness to the Philippine Red Cross.”

The DOJ chief said they were looking into “more of civil liability,” but added that they were not ruling out “criminal liability.”

“We are not ruling out anything until we have completed a thorough review of the subject MOA and laws applicable to the said deal,” he said.