MANILA, Philippines — President Ferdinand “Bongbong” R.Marcos Jr. on Monday defended the removal of the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation’s (PhilHealth) P74-billion subsidy for 2025, citing its remaining reserves.
In a chance interview, Marcos pointed out that even if the government did not grant PhilHealth’s subsidy in the 2025 budget, it would still have a reserve of P500 billion.
“The reason we do not want to subsidize [PhilHealth] because the subsidy uupo lang sa bank account ng PhilHealth, hindi magagamit, eh marami tayo pag gagamitan noon so that’s the simple explanation there,” said Marcos in a chance interview with Palace reporters in Malacañang.
(We do not want to subsidize [PhilHealth] because the subsidy will only sit on PhilHealth’s bank account; it will not be used, which can be used for something else, so that’s the simple explanation there.)
“They have sufficient funds to carry on,” he added.
PhilHealth was initially allocated a P74.431 billion subsidy, but was reduced by the Senate to P64.419 billion.
The bicameral conference committee then decided to cut the allocation completely.
According to Marcos, the current problem with PhilHealth is not its budget nor its coverage, but its system that has been “clogged” due to its limited “processing capacity.”
“Sa dami ng bagong services ng PhilHealth, sa dami ng mga bagong payment na binibigay ng PhilHealth, nababara ang sistema,” said Marcos.
(With the number of new services and payments PhilHealth provides, the system gets clogged.
“You can see there are, in the provinces, merong mga tao nag aantay buong araw ‘yung pila dalawang daang tao nag aantay nagc-claim. Hindi naman mahirap. Pero that’s what happened in PhilHealth. ‘Yan ang problema sa PhilHealth. The problem is the processing capacity,” he added.
(You can see in the provinces, people who wait all day, two hundred people waiting to claim. It’s not difficult. But that’s what happened in PhilHealth. That’s the problem with PhilHealth. The problem is the processing capa
He said this is why PhilHealth’s current main focus is digitization—to ensure faster processing of insurance claims while insurance coverage and claims payments continue.
Marcos clarified that he is “not yet at the point” of vetoing line items in the bicam-approved budget for 2025.