Around 5 million deceased members’ data to be cleared from PhilHealth database

MANILA, Philippines — The personal information of about four to five million deceased Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth) members is still in the database and needs to be cleaned up, according to PhilHealth president and CEO Emmanuel Ledesma Jr.

Ledesma revealed this during the Senate committee on science and technology hearing on Wednesday after Senator Alan Peter Cayetano asked how many percent of Filipinos are already members of PhilHealth.

“We are now at 92 percent. [But] the thing with the PhilHealth database, my understanding is we have to clean it up because there are around four to five million people who have already passed away that remain in the database,” Ledesma said.

The PhilHealth president did not reveal further details on the deceased members but said that they are seeking the help of the Department of Information and Communications Technology and the Philippine Statistics Authority in cleaning its database.

To address the remaining eight percent of the population who are not yet members of the state health insurer, Ledesma said a “point of care” is already in place to help locals, especially those seeking help in hospitals, to file their application.

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