Dante Gierran
MANILA, Philippines — “Bugbog na po kami.”
Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) president Dante Gierran on Thursday bewailed the criticism that his agency has been receiving amid its alleged unpaid claims to hospitals.
During the hearing of the House committee on good government and public accountability, Gierran claimed that Philippine Hospitals Association president Dr. Jaime Almora apologized for “overreacting” over the unpaid claims of PhilHealth to hospitals.
In the same hearing, it was found that PhilHealth still has P21.1 billion unpaid claims to hospitals.
“Ito sasabihin ko na po, bugbog na po kami. I open my heart, bugbog na po kami. No less than ‘yan si Dr. Almora, tumawag sa akin, nagsosorry po sa akin na he was just overreacting,” Gierran said.
“Ito sasabihin ko na, ano ibig sabihin ng overreacting? Eh nagoverreact lang pala siya. You see? It’s unfair, Mr. Chair, na kami lahat ang mali,” he added.
Almora had previously flagged the slow disbursement of COVID-19 claims that are not made under the debit-credit payment method (DCPM) of PhilHealth.
In July, Almora also said that based on a partial survey, only about 4 percent of claims submitted by hospitals for COVID-19 have been paid by PhilHealth since the start of the pandemic.