Corruption Perennial Problem in PhilHealth - Herbosa

by Jom Garner

Health Secretary Ted Herbosa on Tuesday admitted to lawmakers that corruption remains a perennial problem in the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation or PhilHealth.

During the deliberation of the Commission on Appointments for his ad interim appointments, Herbosa was asked whether he could confirm the alleged corruption within the state-run health insurer.

“As chairman, PhilHealth has been involved in many scams in the past administrations such as pneumonia scam, [and] cataract scam,” said Camarines Sur 2nd District Rep. LRay Villafuerte, the majority leader of the CA.

“There are scams waiting to explode. The public is listening. Can you safely say that there is a syndicate in PhilHealth?” he added.

Responding to Villafuerte’s query, Herbosa said that he had no proof to support the lawmaker’s claim. He, however, said that it has been a problem of every administration.

“I have no proof that there is a syndicate. But it is true that every president and every administration had problems to deal with that,” he said.

As secretary of the Department of Health, Herbosa says he sits as an ex-officio non-voting chairperson of the PhilHealth’s Board of Directors.

He underscored the state-run health insurer’s role in realizing the promise of the Universal Health Care Act.

“PhilHealth is important because the success of the Universal Health Care Law lies on it,” he said.

“What I really want is an efficient running of PhilHealth. However, if it does not turn out well, we may propose suggestions to correct it legislatively,” he added.

The Health chief said he is open to suggestions from lawmakers to dismantle the fraudulent activities in PhilHealth.

“Maybe the legislature can help us with the laws that can actually change it, then probably cleanse PhilHealth of fraudulent individuals that are feeding on tons of money there that supposed to be given to the public,” he said.

“There are still ways. We can discuss and study solutions to these problems that may arise,” he added.

Reprinted with permission form the Daily Tribune