Hospital kickback scheme bared

MANILA, Philippines — Ombudsman Jesus Crispin Remulla has revealed a “kickback” scheme in private hospitals involving fraudulent billings in connivance with personnel of the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth).

In the scheme, Remulla said patients are made to believe that their hospital bills are not covered by PhilHealth and they are made to pay in cash, only for the hospital to change the billing after payment to make it appear that PhilHealth has paid for the bill.

“The (patients) cash will be ‘kickbacked.’ They will say the bill is not covered by PhilHealth,” he said in Filipino during his radio program “Executive Session” on dzRH.

“You are billed P75,000 and since you are told you don’t have PhilHealth coverage, you pay P75,000. When you leave, they will change the receipt. The real payment of P35,000 will go to the hospital, and they (schemers) will take the difference,” Remulla said.

He urged patients to file complaints so that the hospital employees and PhilHealth can be sued, if proven that they falsified the receipts.