Lawmakers at the Joint Congressional Oversight Committee on the National Health Insurance Program vowed to dig deeper into the reported P8.9-billion net loss the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) reported in 2017.
Sen. Joseph Victor G. Ejercito noted contrasting testimonies at Tuesday’s Senate-House panel hearing that, while the lawmakers were assured the P151-billion PhilHealth fund remained intact, the agency incurred a P4-billion loss.
“Was there error in computation? We also asked PhilHealth officials to submit at the next hearing other documents used for the alleged fraudulent claims,” Ejercito said.
According to him, the committee needs to thoroughly review PhilHealth’s finances: “How can we assure a healthy nation if PhilHealth is unhealthy?”
“We will also look deeper into fraudulent claims” estimated worth billions of pesos, noting damning information, such as cases of common cough “charged as pneumonia,” for instance.
The panel also learned that old-age cases like cataracts are “operated on, even if not really needed.”
“We are trying to put up a universal health-care program here,” Ejercito said. “They should not fool around with a vital health service,” he added. “We want to get to the bottom of this because, definitely, there is collusion here.”
PhilHealth Officer in Charge Dr. Celestina de la Serna also told legislators the agency’s financial statements are being “double checked.”
Seeking to correct “misimpressions” about the alleged P8-billion gap in PhilHealth’s 2017 financial report, she told senators this was based on an “unaudited financial statement” currently being reviewed based on recommendation of the Commission on Audit “to correct an observed double accounting entry of P4.1-billion in one of our regional office.”