On an annual basis, these so-called “indirect contributors” reached
around 37 million in 2023, about 3% lower than the previous year,
PhilHealth data showed. The dip was due to a lower number of poor
individuals covered (worthy to note that PhilHealth registrations rose
during the same period).
Yet even with this decline, over one in three people benefitting from
PhilHealth still fall under this category and depend on government
subsidy. PhilHealth said it can continue to service its indigent members.
Premium paying members should remain unaffected.
On the other hand, data showed that under the Marcos Jr.
administration, the national government’s subsidy to PhilHealth has
consistently dropped. This was despite what is supposedly a steady
stream of revenues to fund it, some of which come from the “sin” tax
laws that hiked tobacco and liquor duties every year since 2012, as
well as revenue share from gambling and lotto operations of the
Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (Pagcor) and Philippine Charity
Sweepstakes Office (PCSO), respectively.
Shrinking PhilHealth subsidy under Marcos turns to zero in 2025
Share of revenue source
The universal healthcare law, passed in 2019, also mandates that
additional revenues generated from higher tobacco and liquor taxes be
funneled to PhilHealth. Also under that law, the government hiked
PhilHealth premium contributions but also mandated that an increase in
contributions should be matched with a "corresponding increase in
benefits."
But this has not happened. Worse, even current benefits are barely
meeting Filipinos’ health needs. The share of PhilHealth on annual
health expenditures by Filipinos sank to just 10.2% in 2023, the
lowest in comparable data from 2014.
PhilHealth share of Filipinos' health expenses falls to lowest in a
decade
Annual share of health expenditures
Note: Government share covers both national and local governments.
Data earlier than 2014 not available due to methodology changes that
may make the data incomparable.
Source: Philippine Statistics
Authority
Health officials acknowledged that services provided by PhilHealth had
barely improved despite the hike in premium contributions. This, in
turn, resulted in a surge in PhilHealth's reserves. The Department of
Health has pointed to these reserves, amounting to P488.11 billion as
of the first quarter of 2024, as sufficient buffer against the loss in
government subsidy next year.
However, IBON Foundation, a think tank, blasted this justification:
"It is no surprise that the agency's substantial savings come from
spending less on benefit packages that it receives in contributions,"
IBON said in a
Dec. 23 statement.
Reserves are accumulated through excess profits through the years, but
profits are prone to excessive swings given rising healthcare costs.
For instance, data showed that PhilHealth booked a P12.06 billion in
profits in 2019, only to reverse P25 billion in net loss in 2020 when
the pandemic struck.
By 2021, PhilHealth cut its losses, but was still in the red, and only
managed to recover by 2022. Even then, reports back in September 2022
quoted a PhilHealth official to have said that the health fund's
actuarial life – the period over which it can service current and
future obligations to its members – could only run up to
2027
even with additional revenues. PhilHealth officials have since taken
back that statement.
Sources:
PhilHealth, Philippine Statistics Authority
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