MANILA, Philippines — Persistent underfunding has prevented the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. from improving its health benefit packages for its members, a lawmaker said on Thursday, October 8.
House Minority Leader Iris Marie Montes claimed on Thursday, October 8, that the country’s national health insurer has remained underfunded for years even after the passage of the Universal Health Care Act in 2019.
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“Sa mga nakaraang taon po, simula po kasi noong naisabatas natin ang Universal Health Care Law, ay mano-notice po natin na hindi po naibibigay nang tama ‘yung pondong dapat sa PhilHealth,” Monte said in an interview with dzMM.
(In the past years, ever since we passed the Universal Health Care Law into law, we have noticed that the appropriate funds for PhilHealth are not properly given.)
The lawmaker also claimed that the mandated earmarks under the law, or the designated funds from sin taxes and shares from the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (PAGCOR) and the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) for PhilHealth, were not fully and accurately allocated to the agency.
According to Montes, the proposed P74.4 billion PhilHealth budget for 2027 falls short of the P75.2 projected collections from sin taxes for tobacco and sweetened beverages alone.
“Ang nilagay lang po nila tobacco and sweetened beverages; hindi pa nga po kasama ‘yung alcohol and vapor products,” Montes said. “Kulang na nga po ano."
(They only included tobacco and sweetened beverages, not alcohol and vapor products.)
Automatic appropriation
Montes argued that a Supreme Court ruling last year and several measures constitute that under the Universal Healthcare Act, the mandated earmarks must be automatically appropriated to PhilHealth.
The lawmaker was referring to the SC ruling on consolidated petitions on the PhilHealth case in December 2025, ordering the return of a P60-billion excess fund that the Department of Finance (DOF) had ordered to be transferred to the National Treasury.
“With the ruling of the Supreme Court, dapat po malinaw na ito sa DBM (Department of Budget and Management) at sa Kongreso na itong mga earmarks dito ay dapat awtomatikong mapunta sa PhilHealth,” Montes said.
(With the Supreme Court’s ruling, it should be clear to DBM and to Congress that these earmarks must be automatically allotted to PhilHealth.)
Limited benefits
Section 11 of the Universal Health Care Act provides that the PhilHealth must maintain reserve funds with a ceiling of equivalent to two years of projected program expenses.
PhilHealth is required to utilize the excess from these reserve funds to improve the National Health Insurance Program (NHIP) and reduce member contributions.
With the persistent underfunding of PhilHealth, Montes said the public health insurer struggles to provide better health packages and plan for any improvements due to limited financial certainty.
Additionally, the lack of budget predictability, which according to Montes, helps to achieve universal health care, prevents PhilHealth from strategically planning and instead pushes it to reactive spending.