PRESIDENT Duterte was set to meet with executives of the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) on Monday after he had asked them to resign following the alleged fraudulent claims being made to the state-run insurer.
Senator-elect Christopher “Bong” T. Go revealed in an interview that he was asked by the President last week to tell the board members, including acting PhilHealth President and Chief Executive Officer Dr. Roy B. Ferrer, to hand in their courtesy resignation.
Go said Duterte was “dismayed” that the top PhilHealth executives allowed this to happen.
“I talked to him [Ferrer] last Saturday. I was asked by the President to tell them that they should just submit their courtesy resignation,” said Go, who remains to be a confidante of the President even after winning a seat in the last midterm senatorial elections.
Go said Ferrer told him that they did everything they can to address the fraudulent claims, including the creation of an anti-fraud team, but the PhilHealth president admitted that this unfortunate incident happened under their watch.
Even if the executives from PhilHealth will not resign from their respective posts, Go said that they will still face termination.
The President called for the meeting with PhilHealth executives on Monday to give them a chance to explain their side.
Other officials who were called to the meeting are ex-officio members of the PhilHealth Board of Directors, including Health Secretary Francisco T. Duque III, Finance Secretary Carlos G. Dominguez III and Budget Acting Secretary Atty. Janet B. Abuel.
Go said the President will “most likely” make good on his word to revamp PhilHealth.
The President said over the weekend that the agency needs “business people” who know how to manage the agency’s funds well.
Despite this, the President earlier said he does not have the “slightest doubt about the integrity and honesty of Roy Ferrer” although he lamented that a loss of around P100 billion is “totally, totally unacceptable.”
Strict on BPN
Following the reported “ghost” kidney treatments by the state-owned health insurance firm, lawmakers on Monday backed legal action against PhilHealth officials while calling for the strict implementation of Benefit Payment Notice (BPN).
Camarines Sur Rep. Luis Raymund Villafuerte made a statement following President Duterte’s twin directives to effect a leadership shakeup at the PhilHealth and charge unscrupulous health-service providers and their cohorts believed responsible for the hemorrhage of as high as P154 billion in funds since 2013 through bogus treatments of phony or dead patients.
Villafuerte said the Palace decision will prevent the Universal Health Care (UHC) program from taking a nosedive even before it could take off, more so now that this pro-poor program has obtained adequate funding with the passage of a new “sin” tax bill before the 17th Congress adjourned sine die last week.
“This multibillion-peso scam has obviously thrived through the sheer incompetence or connivance of certain PhilHealth execs nationwide,” Villafuerte said.
President Duterte earlier ordered the Na-tional Bureau of Investigation (NBI) to arrest and probe the owners of a dialysis facility in Quezon City that made bogus dialysis procedures to nonexistent kidney patients.
A news report has estimated that PhilHealth losses from this scam could reach as high as P154 billion combined since 2013.
Strict
Meanwhile, House Committee on Health Chairman Angelina Helen Tan urged PhilHealth to strictly implement the Benefit Payment Notice for the patient to compare their statement of account from the hospital and the BPN.
According to Tan, the one-page notice indi-cates the member’s name, date of confinement, diagnosis, details of hospital bills and PhilHealth payment, including doctors payment. If there is a discrepancy or underdeduction, the lawmaker said patients can present the BPN to the hospital for reimbursement.
Earlier, Bayan Muna Rep. Rep. Carlos Isagani Zarate called on the national government to investigate the alleged “ghost” kidney treatments by PhiHealth and WellMed Dialysis Center.
Zarate said the 18th Congress must investigate the matter soonest, as lives hang in the balance in the matter of dialysis treatments.
With Jovee Marie N. Dela Cruz