Planned ‘PhilHealth holiday’ a major cause of concern — Sen. Binay

Sen. Nancy Binay, during one of the virtual hearings of the Senate. FILE photo / Screen grab / Senate PRIB

MANILA, Philippines — The five-day “PhilHealth holiday” that a group of private hospitals planning to implement is a “major cause of concern” and merits an emergency meeting between the state insurer’s board members, Senator Nancy Binay said on Tuesday.

“This is a serious matter. The situation merits an emergency meeting of the Philhealth board and all members that are cabinet secretaries. Not just representatives should attend,” Binay said in a statement.

“It is sad that some hospitals have to resort to this. Nakakadismaya dahil makailang beses na natin ni-raise sa Senate committee hearings ang isyu with Philhealth and hanggang ngayon wala pa ring malinaw na solusyon sa problema,” she added.

(It is sad that some hospitals have to resort to this. It’s disappointing because we have repeatedly raised this issue in Senate committee hearings but I have yet to see a clear solution to this problem.)

The Private Hospitals Association of the Philippines Inc. (PHAPI) is urging its members not to accept claims for PhilHealth deductions for health services from Jan. 1 to 5, said Dr. Jose de Grano, PHAPI president.

Grano noted that this “PhilHealth holiday” was the group’s way of showing support for hospitals that earlier announced their disengagement from the health insurer due to mounting unpaid claims.

“A ‘Philhealth holiday’ is a major cause of concern. Tama ba yung pasyente muna ang mag-aabono ng pang-ospital, tapos bahala na rin silang maghabol sa Philhealth?” Binay went on.

(A “Philhealth holiday” is a major cause of concern. Would it be right for patients to shoulder their hospital bills and come after PhilHealth on their own?)

She then stressed the need for PhilHealth and the Department of Health to “get their act together to prevent more hospitals from disengaging.”

“Ayaw din natin mangyari na magkapatong-patong ang arrears ng Philhealth at gigising na lang tayo at mabubulaga,” she said.

(We don’t want the arrears of PhilHealth to pile up, we don’t want to wake up and be shocked.)

“Anong silbi ng health insurance kung hindi mo magamit? In the end, di naman Philhealth o mga ospital ang kawawa, kundi ang taumbayan,” she added.

(What is the use of health insurance if we can’t use it. In the end, it’s not PhilHealth or the hospitals that will suffer, it’s the Filipino people.)

For its part, PhilHealth expressed hope that the private hospitals would reconsider its planned action.

“Eventually it will be the Filipino people who will suffer the consequences of such a call,” PhilHealth spokesperson Shirley Domingo earlier said in a message to the Inquirer.

PhilHealth, according to Domingo, had fast-tracked the release of P11.64 billion for the payment of claims through the Debit Credit Payment Method (DCPM) to hospital partners nationwide as of Dec. 24.

JPV