Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, September 8) — The country’s finance chief said digitalization could play a role in addressing the “serious” issues faced by the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (Philhealth).
“PhilHealth has a real serious problem with their system,” Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III told a Senate panel hearing on Wednesday, stressing the need for computerization.
Dominguez, an ex-officio board member of the state health insurer, also recounted how fellow members were arguing on spending ₱2 billion for the agency’s computer system in one board meeting.
“There was a lot of objection, and I was telling them: What the heck? You’re spending over ₱100 billion a year, what’s ₱2 billion to have a good system?” he explained.
“Oh you know, it’s not sure, you know this is a sweetheart contract,” said Dominguez as he recalled what was said to him in response. “Well, I don’t know, okay? But…don’t object to spending the money for improving the system so that payments can be made, claims can be vetted quickly.”
Hospitals earlier warned their ties with PhilHealth were “bound to collapse” after it suspended the payment of claims under suspicion of fraud. It has temporarily stopped implementing the circular suspending the claim payments.
“It’s a serious systemic problem, which I think can’t be fixed with the wave of a magic wand,” said Dominguez.
The Finance chief also pushed for a “real long-term plan” to return PhilHealth to a “sustainable basis,” noting that its collections will fall below its payouts in a few years’ time.
PhilHealth earlier said its actuarial life is projected to last only until 2027, citing the rise in the amount of claims related to COVID-19.
