Philhealth tops list Of subsidy recipients

Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth), the state-run firm that administers the national health insurance program, cornered the bulk or almost two-fifths of subsidies given away by the national government as of October.

Of the P126.4 billion in subsidies granted to government-owned and -controlled corporations (GOCCs) from January to October, PhilHealth received P50.2 billion or 39.7 percent of the 10-month total, the latest Bureau of the Treasury data showed.

The latest data on its website showed that as of the first half of 2018, PhilHealth had 51.6 million members with 48.8 million dependents, such that the total number of beneficiaries reached 100.4 million out of the projected 2018 population of 106.3 million.

PhilHealth was also the biggest recipient of government subsidies last year amounting P47.2 billion.

During the first 10 months, the other GOCCs that got the biggest amounts of subsidies next to PhilHealth were the National Irrigation Administration (P26.3 billion) and Land Bank of the Philippines (P24.6 billion).

In end-October, government financial institutions were granted P24.9 billion; major financial government institutions, nearly P37 billion, and other government corporations, P64.5 billion.

Up to 90 percent of the subsidies that state corporations received were being spent on programs and projects, while the remainder covered operational expenses, according to the Governance Commission for GOCCs.

Last year, GOCC subsidies from the national government hit a record P131.1 billion.