PhilHealth's P110B can revitalize RP healthcare

The Senate committee on finance Wednesday tasked the Health Department and state-run Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) to come to terms over the insurer’s P110 billion in retained earnings that can revitalize the country’s healthcare system In the meantime, committee chairman Sen. Franklin Drilon decided to postpone the budget hearings for the Health Department until an agreement over what to do with PhilHealth’s money is forged, a technical staff of Sen. Ralph Recto told GMANews.TV. With retained earnings of some P110 billion, PhilHealth “can single-handedly revitalize a public healthcare system ailing from a deficiency in financial resources," Recto, committee vice chairman, said in a statement. “PhilHealth’s accumulated reserved fund is more than thrice the proposed budgetary allocation of the Department of Health for next year, which is about P32.6 billion," Recto said during the budget hearing. “If we are to put these funds to better use, then we should focus on using these resources to complement the DOH’s efforts to enhance the delivery of healthcare services to the people," Recto added. “I can think of a lot of ways in which we can use these funds to improve our healthcare system. The DOH and PhilHealth should discuss how to use these monies," Recto said. As of June 20, PhilHealth has P115 billion in total assets and P6.172 billion in total liabilities, Rey Aquino, PhilHealth president told the committee. “Easily, PhilHealth’s accumulated income can be used to wipe out the country’s healthcare infrastructure deficit," Recto said in the statement. Health Secretary Enrique Ona told the committee that the upgrade of public health facilities nationwide would require only P19 billion but only P7 billion has been proposed under the department’s 2011 expenditure program. The health chief also told Drilon that PhilHealth and DOH could return to the committee after a month with an agreement over what to do with the insurer’s money, which actually belongs to its members, Recto’s staff, who asked not to be named as she wasn’t authorized to speak on the matter, said. Recto explained that the money in question is unlike pension funds held in trust for its members by the Social Security System and the Government Service Insurance System that “there is no defensible reason for PhilHealth to hold on to these earnings." As of June 2010, PhilHealth has 21.65 million registered members, of which the bulk or 7.41 million comes from the private sector. —VS/OMG, GMANews.TV