EDITORIAL - Not in good health?

The cost of health care is high enough without the public having to worry about whether the state-run health insurance system will go bankrupt. The national government, according to Budget Secretary Rolando Andaya Jr., owes the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. about P9 billion, not P19.2 billion as reported to the Senate last week by a Philhealth executive. Vice president for actuary Nerissa Santiago said Philhealth could go bankrupt by 2016 because of the national government’s debt.

Even if the lower figure is the accurate one, that’s still a lot of money that the government has failed to remit to Philhealth. Every month the corporation collects from P100 to P750 from every worker in both the public and private sectors for health insurance coverage, with the employer paying 50 percent of the amount.

Philhealth president Rey Aquino assured the public that the firm isn’t going bankrupt. He reported last week that among government agencies, the Department of Education has the largest unpaid obligations to Philhealth, amounting to P4.5 billion. The Philippine National Police followed with P690 million. The other major debtors are the Philippine Army, the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao and the Department of Health. Aquino noted that these are among the agencies with the largest number of personnel.

Despite assurances from budget and Philhealth officials that the company is in good health, the government should heed warnings of several lawmakers, among them Cebu Rep. Eduardo Gullas and Sen. Loren Legarda. Gullas recalled the problems encountered by public school teachers in collecting their full social security benefits from the Government Service Insurance System when their contributions were not properly remitted to the GSIS, again by the Department of Education.

Teachers are not the only ones whose claims for insurance coverage will be affected in case Philhealth becomes insolvent. Before this problem gets out of hand, and before certain officials are accused of diverting the money for other purposes, the government should ensure that all agencies remit Philhealth contributions in full and on time.