Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, October 20) — A lawmaker wants the House of Representatives to swiftly act on a proposed bill which serves as the counterpart of a Senate measure seeking to transfer the chairmanship of the PhilHealth board to the Finance Secretary.
In a statement, Albay 2nd District representative Joey Salceda said he has asked the chamber to “identify as an urgent priority” the approval of House Bill No. 7578, otherwise known as the Philhealth Reform Act, in an urgent aide memoire addressed to the House leadership.
HB 7578, according to Salceda, is the House’s “extensive” counterpart to Senate Bill No. 1829, which aims to replace the Health Secretary with the Finance Secretary as chairman of the state health insurer’s board.
READ: Senate OKs measure transferring PhilHealth chairmanship to DOF
Salceda further explained that the lack of sufficient financial expertise in PhilHealth’s administration is a “key” reason for its financial woes, hence his recommendation to turn over the board chairmanship to the Finance chief.
Apart from the proposed change in the PhilHealth board chairmanship, the lawmaker also seeks other financial reforms for the state health insurance agency.
These include making the Treasury Bureau the fund manager of PhilHealth’s investment reserve fund. The bill also seeks to accumulate net income into the fund and remove the fund life’s two-year ceiling. This, according to Salceda, will ensure the health insurance system can weather demand shocks like the coronavirus pandemic.
HB 7578 also seeks to make the contribution scheme more progressive, potentially saving working minimum-wage families thousands of pesos annually, and effectively exempting OFWs from paying premiums.”
The proposed measure likewise orders the creation of a national health database containing all claims and benefits applied for and granted by the agency and will follow a one-patient, one-record principle.
The bill also mandates an independent audit of PhilHealth in addition to the one conducted by the Commission on Audit, and the state insurance agency’s president to report measures taken to address any adverse findings to the President and Congress, added Salceda.
PhilHealth has been under fire in the past months following allegations of fraud within the agency, which resulted in billions of pesos getting stolen.
