ADVERTISEMENT
Manila Bulletin devider Philippines devider National devider Villafuerte tells DOH chief to resolve PhilHealth's P27-B debt to hospitals

Villafuerte tells DOH chief to resolve PhilHealth's P27-B debt to hospitals

Published Oct 5, 2023 01:08 am

At A Glance

  • Camarines Sur 2nd district Rep. LRay Villafuerte is asking the Department of Health (DOH) to quickly resolve the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth)'s delayed payment of an estimated P27 billion in arrears to both private and government health facilities. 

FB_IMG_1679041889960.jpgCamarines Sur 2nd district Rep. LRay Villafuerte (Facebook)

 

 

 

 

 

 

Camarines Sur 2nd district Rep. LRay Villafuerte is asking the Department of Health (DOH) to quickly resolve the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth)’s delayed payment of an estimated P27 billion in arrears to both private and government health facilities. 

Villafuerte made the call during the recent Commission on Appointment (CA) hearing on Dr. Ted Herbosa's ad interim appointment as DOH chief. 

The veteran solon had highlighted the chronic delays in PhilHealth’s payment of its arrears despite its having an estimated P700 billion in reserve funds. 

Villafuerte, CA majority leader, suggested during the CA hearing that at least P50 billion of the reserve funds be reallocated to the Medical Assistance for Indigent Patients (MAIP) program--a government subsidy for sick indigents treated in private hospitals that has a relatively faster payment rate than PhilHealth’s. 

“So, it's incumbent upon you, Mr. Secretary (Herbosa), to at least reform yung basic problem na mabayaran ng mabilis ang mga deserving hospitals (to at least reform your basic problem about quickly paying the deserving hospitals), both private and public,” Villafuerte told Herbosa, who is concurrent PhilHealth chairman 

On the suggestion to place P50 billion on MAIP, Herbosa said: “Maganda pong ideya yan, ano. Ang MAIP kasi ang tingin ko sa kanya sa health insurance, ang tawag dyan catastrophic illness package." 

(That's a good idea. My view of MAIP in the realm of health insurance is, I call it a catastrophic illness package.) 

"That's a benefit that can be given by insurance, pero DOH po ang nagpapatakbo nyan. At mas efficient naman, ano, nababayaran nga agad at wala naman tayong malaking utang na inaabot ng taon," he added. 

(It's the DOH that runs it. And it's more efficient, it pays on time and there's no huge debt that goes unpaid for a long period.) 

Herbosa said the DOH is studying reforms it will propose to the 19th Congress to solve this problem of delayed reimbursements of medical benefit packages, including the possible adoption of the capitation system in Canada wherein the funds for one full year are downloaded to the provincial governments to cover the healthcare needs of their respective constituents for the next 12 months. 

Unless addressed soon enough, this financial pickle is likely to push the small hospitals to the brink of serious cash-flow problems that could eventually jeopardize their operations, Villafuerte noted. 

According to reports, PhilHealth’s payables to private and government hospitals have soared to P27 billion over the past five years.

 

Related Tags

PhilHealth Ted Herbosa lray villafuerte
ADVERTISEMENT
.most-popular .layout-ratio{ padding-bottom: 79.13%; } @media (min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1024px) { .widget-title { font-size: 15px !important; } }

{{ articles_filter_1561_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}
.most-popular .layout-ratio{ padding-bottom: 79.13%; } @media (min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1024px) { .widget-title { font-size: 15px !important; } }

{{ articles_filter_1562_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}
.most-popular .layout-ratio{ padding-bottom: 79.13%; } @media (min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1024px) { .widget-title { font-size: 15px !important; } }

{{ articles_filter_1563_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}

{{ articles_filter_1564_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}
.mb-article-details { position: relative; } .mb-article-details .article-body-preview, .mb-article-details .article-body-summary{ font-size: 17px; line-height: 30px; font-family: "Libre Caslon Text", serif; color: #000; } .mb-article-details .article-body-preview iframe , .mb-article-details .article-body-summary iframe{ width: 100%; margin: auto; } .read-more-background { background: linear-gradient(180deg, color(display-p3 1.000 1.000 1.000 / 0) 13.75%, color(display-p3 1.000 1.000 1.000 / 0.8) 30.79%, color(display-p3 1.000 1.000 1.000) 72.5%); position: absolute; height: 200px; width: 100%; bottom: 0; display: flex; justify-content: center; align-items: center; padding: 0; } .read-more-background a{ color: #000; } .read-more-btn { padding: 17px 45px; font-family: Inter; font-weight: 700; font-size: 18px; line-height: 16px; text-align: center; vertical-align: middle; border: 1px solid black; background-color: white; } .hidden { display: none; }
function initializeAllSwipers() { // Get all hidden inputs with cms_article_id document.querySelectorAll('[id^="cms_article_id_"]').forEach(function (input) { const cmsArticleId = input.value; const articleSelector = '#article-' + cmsArticleId + ' .body_images'; const swiperElement = document.querySelector(articleSelector); if (swiperElement && !swiperElement.classList.contains('swiper-initialized')) { new Swiper(articleSelector, { loop: true, pagination: false, navigation: { nextEl: '#article-' + cmsArticleId + ' .swiper-button-next', prevEl: '#article-' + cmsArticleId + ' .swiper-button-prev', }, }); } }); } setTimeout(initializeAllSwipers, 3000); const intersectionObserver = new IntersectionObserver( (entries) => { entries.forEach((entry) => { if (entry.isIntersecting) { const newUrl = entry.target.getAttribute("data-url"); if (newUrl) { history.pushState(null, null, newUrl); let article = entry.target; // Extract metadata const author = article.querySelector('.author-section').textContent.replace('By', '').trim(); const section = article.querySelector('.section-info ').textContent.replace(' ', ' '); const title = article.querySelector('.article-title h1').textContent; // Parse URL for Chartbeat path format const parsedUrl = new URL(newUrl, window.location.origin); const cleanUrl = parsedUrl.host + parsedUrl.pathname; // Update Chartbeat configuration if (typeof window._sf_async_config !== 'undefined') { window._sf_async_config.path = cleanUrl; window._sf_async_config.sections = section; window._sf_async_config.authors = author; } // Track virtual page view with Chartbeat if (typeof pSUPERFLY !== 'undefined' && typeof pSUPERFLY.virtualPage === 'function') { try { pSUPERFLY.virtualPage({ path: cleanUrl, title: title, sections: section, authors: author }); } catch (error) { console.error('ping error', error); } } // Optional: Update document title if (title && title !== document.title) { document.title = title; } } } }); }, { threshold: 0.1 } ); function showArticleBody(button) { const article = button.closest("article"); const summary = article.querySelector(".article-body-summary"); const body = article.querySelector(".article-body-preview"); const readMoreSection = article.querySelector(".read-more-background"); // Hide summary and read-more section summary.style.display = "none"; readMoreSection.style.display = "none"; // Show the full article body body.classList.remove("hidden"); } document.addEventListener("DOMContentLoaded", () => { let loadCount = 0; // Track how many times articles are loaded const offset = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10]; // Offset values const currentUrl = window.location.pathname.substring(1); let isLoading = false; // Prevent multiple calls if (!currentUrl) { console.log("Current URL is invalid."); return; } const sentinel = document.getElementById("load-more-sentinel"); if (!sentinel) { console.log("Sentinel element not found."); return; } function isSentinelVisible() { const rect = sentinel.getBoundingClientRect(); return ( rect.top < window.innerHeight && rect.bottom >= 0 ); } function onScroll() { if (isLoading) return; if (isSentinelVisible()) { if (loadCount >= offset.length) { console.log("Maximum load attempts reached."); window.removeEventListener("scroll", onScroll); return; } isLoading = true; const currentOffset = offset[loadCount]; window.loadMoreItems().then(() => { let article = document.querySelector('#widget_1690 > div:nth-last-of-type(2) article'); intersectionObserver.observe(article) loadCount++; }).catch(error => { console.error("Error loading more items:", error); }).finally(() => { isLoading = false; }); } } window.addEventListener("scroll", onScroll); });
Join Our Newsletters

Sign up by email to receive news.

© 2025 Manila Bulletin The Nation's Leading Newspaper. All Rights Reserved.