PhilHealth gets additional subsidy from gov’t in September

Amid the investigation of alleged corruption among its top officials, state-run Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) received an additional P146 million in subsidy from the national government on September.

The latest Bureau of the Treasury data showed that from January to September, PhilHealth got a total of P30.4 billion in subsidies, including P26.2 billion in June and P4.1 billion in July.

Among the country’s government-owned and/or -controlled corporations (GOCCs), PhilHealth’s end-September subsidy was the third biggest, after the Social Security System’s P51 billion and the National Food Authority’s P37.7 billion.

PhilHealth will receive P71.3 billion in subsidies this year.

Under the proposed P4.5-trillion 2021 national budget, the allocation for the national health insurance program being implemented by PhilHealth was set at P71.4 billion, in line with the government’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Last year, PhilHealth cornered P72.7 billion or 36 percent —the biggest share among GOCCs—of total GOCC subsidies.

Since 2014, PhilHealth has been receiving the largest yearly subsidy among state-run corporations.

During the first nine months, the national government gave away P199.6 billion in subsidies to GOCCs, up from P157.1 billion a year ago.

At the height of the COVID-19 lockdown, the Department of Budget and Management slashed the budgetary support to government corporations to P185.3 billion from the P195.9 billion originally programmed under the P4.1-trillion 2020 budget.

This budget cut under the Bayanihan to Heal as One Act was reallocated to programs, projects and activities addressing the health and socioeconomic crises inflicted by COVID-19.

About 90 percent of the subsidies that state-run firms get are usually being spent on programs and projects, while the rest covered operational expenses, according to the Governance Commission for GOCCs. —Ben O. de Vera INQ