COA: PhilHealth 3rd biggest spender among gov’t firms in 2020

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MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) spent P128.04 billion in 2020, the third highest among government-owned and -controlled corporations, according to the Commission on Audit (COA).

PhilHealth has come under the spotlight anew over its failure to settle mounting unpaid claims to hospitals, including some that had threatened to disengage from the state-run health insurer and mount a five-day holiday.

Nerissa Santiago, acting senior vice president of PhilHealth, told a Senate hearing in August 2020 that the state-run health insurer might collapse in 2022, estimating a P57-billion operating loss if the global COVID-19 pandemic persists until next year.

Subsidy, contributions

But in September this year, Santiago told House lawmakers that PhilHealth may last until 2027. She said its imminent collapse “will depend on the subsidy coming from the government” and premium contributions of members.

State auditors said the Social Security System (SSS) had the biggest expenditure of P681.61 billion followed by the Government Service Insurance System’s (GSIS) P299.93 billion. They did not itemize the expenditures of each corporation.

They also said that the total income of P1.26 trillion in 2020 was lower than 2019’s P1.46 trillion.

The auditors said the top three biggest spenders were also the top income earners in 2020. The GSIS earned P350.857 billion, the SSS P254.41 billion and PhilHealth P158.107 billion.

The other top earners were Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (P118.154 billion), Land Bank of the Philippines (P80.998 billion), the Home Development Mutual Fund (P49.666 billion), the Philippine Deposit Insurance Corp. (P41.733 billion) and the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (P36.006 billion).