CoA: No proof PhilHealth incurred P154B in losses

THE Commission on Audit (CoA) said it did not find evidence that the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) incurred losses amounting to P154 billion.

In a letter submitted to PhilHealth President and Chief Executive Officer Ricardo Morales last June 10, the Audit commission confirmed that the financial statements for the last five years reflected no such losses.

“The alleged losses… did not appear on the published CoA Annual Audit Reports on PhilHealth,” the commission noted.

Morales requested the government auditing agency to do a special audit after reports surfaced last year that the insurer sustained losses from overpayments or fraud.

Morales said he had been trying to uncover such losses since the start of his term as president, welcoming investigations from different agencies such as CoA, the Presidential Anti-Corruption Commission and the National Bureau of Investigation.

PhilHealth Vice President for Corporate

Affairs Dr. Shirley Domingo added in a text message that other agencies have not reported yet the findings of their own probes into extensive fraud in the corporation.

The statement comes after Morales clashed with Palace spokesman Harry

Roque Jr. over the implementation of the Universal Health Care Law.

Morales earlier told a joint conM gressional hearing that PhilHealth wanted to delay the implementaM tion of the law, citing the agency’s dwindling funds, mainly due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Roque challenged Morales to do his job and go after corrupt ofM ficials in the state insurer.

He said Morales has the power to eliminate the “scoundrels” inside PhilHealth because he had been given the green light by President Rodrigo Duterte.