Special PhilHealth audit under way
The Commission on Audit (CoA) agreed to conduct a special audit on the anomaly-ridden Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) but the audit agency anticipates financial documents might be hard to access.
The CoA decision came days after Senate
Minority Leader Franklin Drilon sought a thorough review of PhilHealth’s funds and disbursements from CoA which is separate from the annual report.
“I am glad that CoA finds merit in our proposal for a special audit of PhilHealth considering the gravity of the situation and the consequences if we fail to address the matter with urgency,” the Senate leader said.
“What we have found out so far could just be the tip of the iceberg. We do not know how deep it is. We do not know how far it is and how prejudiced the actuarial life of PhilHealth is.”
According to Drilon, CoA chairman Michael Aguinaldo promised an audit on the health insurance funds and the agency’s disbursements as he even vowed CoA will have an accurate evaluation of PhilHealth’s actuarial life.
Aguinaldo also proposed to strengthen the actuarial department in PhilHealth, saying the agency is open to tapping professionals to help in the review.
Diagnostic test
“We urge CoA Chairman Aguinaldo to sit down with PhilHealthPresident and chief executive officer Ricardo Morales to discuss the conduct of a special audit to determine the true state of financial health of the agency,” Drilon demanded.
“They should come up with the mechanisms on how to facilitate the special audit and eliminate hindrances that prevent internal auditors from performing their tasks,” he added.
Drilon pointed out that PhilHealth is vital in having an accurate special audit report as CoA internal auditors could not easily access documents and information relevant to financial evaluation.
“The COA internal auditors faced some difficulties before in accessing documents from PhilHealth, so we could not get the whole picture,” he revealed.
End irregularities
Given the circumstance, Drilon demanded full cooperation from PhilHealth officials to combat corruption, prevent irregularities, overpayment as well as non-payment of claims.
“I urge PhilHealth to provide full support to the CoA special audit. We all agree that a special audit is something that must be done to determine the true state of financial health of the agency and its viability to cover for medical expenses of millions of all Filipinos in the next 10 years or so,” the Senator pointed out.
He also brought up the backlash that PhilHealth could suffer if it fails to reimburse public and private hospitals particularly health institutions catering to the poor.
Vicious circle
“There will be a chain reaction. The regional hospitals, especially public hospitals that cater to the poor through their maintenance and operating budget. If PhilHealth does not reimburse them, the problem will become worse because they will not be able to serve the poor. It is really a very difficult problem,” Drilon explained.
Moreover, he also revealed that Aguinaldo agreed on the need for accurate study of the actuarial life of PhilHealth citing the P26-billion operating loss that it incurred in the last five years aside from the P48-billion unpaid claims.
The Senate is currently investigating the massive corruption in
PhilHealth.
Recently, former
PhilHealth officials have tagged eight regional officers as the ‘mafia’ that has been influential in the agency.
The Senate
Blue Ribbon
Committee will continue the investigation on 27 August.
I am glad that CoA finds merit in our proposal for a special audit of PhilHealth.
What we have found out so far could just be the tip of the iceberg.