Philhealth’s finances remain strong, robust
PhilHealth’s finances remain robust and strong, said its President and CEO Emmanuel Ledesma, Jr. while also continuing to commit to expanding and making benefits more relevant and responsive to the Filipino's medical needs.
“We would like to assure you that your PhilHealth is and remains to be in a strong position to implement these benefit enhancements,” Ledesma said in line with the National Health Insurance month celebration.
As of September 2022, Philhealth recorded its highest net income at P46 billion with total assets standing at P394 billion which is 13 percent higher than the December 2021 figures.
PhilHealth’s investment portfolio, on the other hand, stands at P355 billion which consists of 83 percent long-term investments in government bonds and corporate bonds; and the remaining 17 percent are short-term investments.
PhilHealth’s reserve fund also rose to P224 billion from P151 billion in September 2021, or a 48 percent growth due to the consistently positive results of operations.
“PhilHealth’s finances remain robust and strong. And to make it more sustainable in many years to come, we appeal to our members, employers, healthcare providers, and to our government partners for their continuous support to the Program,” Ledesma added.
Along with this, PhilHealth has also committed to continuously expand and make the PhilHealth benefits more relevant and responsive to the medical needs of the Filipino as its anniversary theme says, “Pinalawak at mga Bagong Benepisyo para sa Mamamayang Filipino.”
For dialysis patients, Philhealth is expanding its coverage for outpatient hemodialysis from 90 to 156 sessions. This increase in the number of sessions covered is based on standards for adequate dialysis which requires three 4-hour sessions every week for chronic kidney disease (CKD) stage 5 patients.
Dialysis is not the only for renal replacement therapy as PhilHealth also provides P270,000 in financial support to patients who are on peritoneal dialysis or the PD-First.
PhilHealth also pays P600,000 for renal patients who have organ donors that qualified under Z Benefits for Kidney Transplantation.
“We urge our kidney patients to avail of these benefits to achieve a better quality of life,” Ledesma said.
PhilHealth is also moving towards rationalizing select inpatient case rates. Initially, they are looking at moderate and high-risk pneumonia and acute stroke, both ischemic and hemorrhagic, among those that will be rationalized.
Philhealth is also set to introduce enhancements in select Z benefit packages for patients who have health conditions requiring prolonged hospitalization and very expensive treatments.
These enhancements are also expected with the help of the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR) and the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO).
As mandated in Section 37 of the Universal Health Care Law, PAGCOR will transfer 50 percent of the National Government share from their income as provided for in Presidential Decree
Number 1869 as amended; while the PCSO will transfer 40 percent of their charity fund net of documentary stamp taxes and their mandatory contributions as provided for in RA 1169.
Following the signing of the Joint Circular No. 0001-2022 between the PCSO, PAGCOR, Department of Budget and Management, Department of Finance, Department of Health and PhilHealth in May last year, a total of P21 billion from these two partner agencies have already been approved for transfer to PhilHealth under the 2023 General Appropriations Act.
Earlier this year, the president has directed PhilHealth to suspend the scheduled contribution rate of 4.5 percent and salary ceiling of P90,000 “in the light of the prevailing socio-economic challenges brought about by the Covid-19 pandemic, and to provide financial relief to our countrymen amidst these difficult times.”
PhilHealth has responded to this directive with the board’s affirmation of the agency’s compliance to suspend the premium rate increase and directed management to proceed with the rollout of new benefits packages as planned.
These new benefit packages include the outpatient benefit package for mental health and severe acute malnutrition (SAM) for children below 5 years old.
PhilHealth will also rationalize the current COVID-19 benefit packages, specifically for the inpatient packages, RT-PCR and Rapid Antigen Test and isolation packages. —