Senate President Francis “Chiz” Escudero on Thursday, December 12 stood pat on the decision of the bicameral conference committee to provide zero subsidy budget for Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) saying it should be a “wake-up call” for the state health insurer that has failed to fully utilize the funds that Congress would allocate to it annually.

Escudero pointed this out a day after the Senate and House of Representatives ratified the bicameral conference committee report on the P6.352 trillion national budget for 2025, reiterating that PhilHealth needs to use its reserve funds first which is now at P600-billion.

“The Department of Finance (DOF) reduced PhilHealth's excess funds that they were not spending which was worth P500 billion at that time. Reduced by P90 billion, the Supreme Court withheld the P39 billion, if I'm not mistaken. So PhilHealth’s fund only decreased by P440 billion,” Escudero said in Filipino during an interview over Radio DZRH.

“But right now, even when we discussed the budget, PhilHealth’s fund is at P600 billion again. The budget proposal aims to increase that by P74 billion. More than P50 billion for the payment of premiums to the unemployed and P20 billion for additional benefits. But why should we give more if their funds are too much and they are not spending for the members?” he pointed out.

Escudero pointed out that based on PhilHealth’s Charter, they can use their funds for the full implementation of the Universal Health Care (UHC) Act. “And good thing is that from one pocket the money just goes back to their other pocket,” he stressed.

The Senate leader, likewise, rejected assumptions it would be unconstitutional for Congress to withhold the state health insurance agency’s subsidy amounting to P74-billion for next year. 

“No law can be passed by the previous congress to tie the hands of the next congress especially if it is not appropriate and no longer suitable for the time like the situation we have now,” he said.

“Philhealth's funding is too much but we would fund it again while they are not doing their job in terms of additional benefits and additional coverage,” he pointed out.

“Second, if that is what we’d base it on, then we have over 1 trillion and 600,000 laws that are not funded but passed. So that cannot be the basis. That's why I said that what was passed by the previous congress cannot be changed by future congresses…The next congress has the power to change that depending on the needs of the time,” the Senate chief reiterated. 

Thus, Escudero said, what Congress’ aim is to remind PhilHealth to “do your job.”

“This is like a reminder, a wake-up call to them that ‘hey do your job’ because a lot of money is being wasted precisely because you don't move, because you don't provide benefits, because you don't pay the debt you owe to hospitals, whether public or private, that until now are still waiting to be reimbursed,” he stressed.