Supreme Court (SC) Associate Justice Antonio Kho, Jr. clarified Tuesday how the Department of Finance (DOF) was able to determine the existence of the P89.9-billion unutilized Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth) funds.
During the oral arguments, Kho posed a question clarifying the definition of ‘unutilized subsidy’ as well as the calculation made by the government to come up with its figures.
In response, Deputy Treasurer Eduardo Anthony Marino of the Bureau of Treasury explained that it represents the unutilized government subsidy for the years 2021 until 2023 as reflected during the financial statements of those years.
“Every year from 2021 to 2023, there is a premium subsidy that was recorded in the financial statement coming from the national government and correspondingly the accounting system of PhilHealth can track the [indirect contributor] beneficiaries where the subsidies must be used for and this must be simply subtracted for each year the difference between the premium subsidies and the benefit expenses for indirect contributors,” said Marino.
Kho noted that unspent funds were taken back, which has become the basis of the said figure.
Under the General Appropriations Act (GAA) the P89.9-billion is part of the fund balance, according to the magistrate.
However, he cited that under Department Circular 003-2024, there were guidelines provided in the determination of the fund balance considering several factors.
Kho described PhilHealth as a ‘going concern,’ adding that for 2025, no subsidy was allotted for the agency.
For his part, Marino said it was considered an unutilized subsidy because the national government has demonstrated the capacity and willingness to continuously provide subsidy to PhilHealth.
The Department of Health (DOH) and PhilHealth can request the subsidies to help it achieve the goals of the Universal Health Care law, he said.
Meanwhile, Kho underscored that the fault is on PhilHealth for not spending the fund and not for the government to take it away.
