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NewsTranscript
00:00Let's talk about the Zero Subsidy in PhilHealth in 2025.
00:04We will be joined by their spokesperson and Senior Vice President, Dr. Israel Pargas.
00:09Good morning, Dr. Pargas. This is Marice. We are live on Unang Balita.
00:13Hi, good morning. Good morning, Marice, and good morning to everyone.
00:17Alright. Doc, first of all, it seems that President Bongbong Marcos is not satisfied with the Zero Subsidy for you in 2025
00:25because PhilHealth has a lot of reserve funds and there is still a surplus of P150 billion.
00:31Are your reserve funds sufficient? What is your reaction to this?
00:36Well, as mentioned and reported, yes, we still have funds and as mentioned,
00:45it is sufficient and we will continue to provide benefits and our benefits will continue to expand.
00:54This year and the coming years. As mentioned in the news, we have excess funds and the Bicameral Conference Committee
01:07expects that we will use all these funds before they add more or if they will give more in the next succeeding years.
01:17But you also mentioned that you hope that the President will study the Zero Subsidy for the agency in 2025.
01:26So even if you have excess funds, why shouldn't you have Zero Subsidy in 2025?
01:32Well, we are just coming from the laws that states that our premium contributions to our indirect contributors should be subsidized by the national government.
01:46Those are what are written in the law. But we also believe that our lawmakers and our Congress know this and we respect the decision of the bicameral and of course the President.
02:02If this again will be signed into law, then of course the corporation will adjust and will adopt and surely we will provide all the benefits intended for our members.
02:13So you mentioned that you will provide all the benefits for the members.
02:17So are you sure that the benefit packages, the medicines of the PhilHealth members will not be affected?
02:22Because the usual complaints, for example, if someone is sick, it's just a small amount that PhilHealth will provide for those who are sick.
02:32Yes. We will continue to provide. If you remember Maris, last February of 2024, we increased by 30% across the board.
02:43For around 9,000 case rates, that is what we are paying to the hospitals for the members' benefits.
02:51And just for everyone's knowledge, our board has already approved another round of increase in our case rates and we hope that we can issue that before the end of the year or if not, at the beginning of the year, we will have another round of increase in our case rates.
03:11Very quickly, Doc. As Dr. Tony Leach and Sean are saying, the things that you are adding, it's not the usual diseases.
03:22We hope that more people will experience heart problems, diabetes, cancer, all kinds of cancer that are really number one or on the top list of cause of death of Filipinos.
03:34Yes. Actually, the things that he mentioned are the first cases that were increased, like pneumonia. That is the first case that we are accepting in PhilHealth, dialysis.
03:48Heart disease, our board has already approved the increase and before the end of the year, we will issue a policy on that.
03:57As for our cancer, we are already reviewing. This is cancer for prostate, cervical, uterine, lung, and liver cancer.
04:08We have already started studying this and you can expect that by next year, 2025, we will issue our enhanced benefits for this.
04:18We also started improving our dengue, which is now from P16,000 to P47,000.
04:26Again, the other diseases that are covered by our increase across the board, 30 percent and built-in this year, will have a new increase.
04:40You know Maris, we have two directions in increasing our benefits. First, those are the ten priority cases that Dr. Leach mentioned and second, so that other case rates will not be left out, is across the board.
04:57So that is what we did this year and we will continue it by next year.
05:03Another issue, Doc, is the spread of the Php 138 million budget for the Christmas party.
05:09I just want to ask, how much did you spend on the Christmas party if you really got something from the budget of PhilHealth?
05:17Actually, that is not a budget for the Christmas party.
05:22We followed the instruction of Malacanang to scale down any Christmas party or any year-end activity.
05:33Actually, we don't have it yet. Our year-end activity will be on December 18. Again, we scaled down for this.
05:44So how much?
05:46Our budget for more than 1,000 employees is I think around a little less than P2 million and this is just for food and for the so-called year-end activity.
06:05The Php 138 million that was reported is a proposed activity and proposed budget for the 2025 30th anniversary celebration of PhilHealth and the National Health Insurance Program month in February.
06:22But again, like what was reported, it is not final and not approved.
06:28It seems that the Php 138 million is not that much compared to the 30th anniversary and your other event for February.
06:38Is it not for the benefit of PhilHealth members that this fund should go to them?
06:43Well, like what I mentioned Ms. Maris, this is a proposed activity and it is not approved.
06:49This will be covering the whole Philippines, including our head office, including the 17 regional offices and more than 100 plus local health insurance offices.
07:04This will be for our members, for our employees, for our employers and for our hospital providers that are included in the celebration of our activity.
07:16The whole activity is planned to be a whole year round for our 30th anniversary.
07:22But again, like what I mentioned Ms. Maris, this is not approved and this is still for evaluation and maybe whatever the outcome of this will be, you will know.
07:33All right. We will continue to keep you updated. Thank you very much for your time, Dr. Israel Pargas, spokesperson and Senior Vice President of PhilHealth. Merry Christmas to you.
07:43Thank you, Maris, and Merry Christmas.