PhilHealth Corruption Traced Back To Aquino Administration – Defensor
PHILHEALTH CORRUPTION – A ranking lawmaker said the alleged corruption within PhilHealth could be traced to the Aquino administration.
As the investigations on the anomalies within PhilHealth ramped up, several key incidents transpired. For starters, the firm’s anti-fraud lawyer Thorrsson Montes Keith quit his post. Similarly, PhilHealth’s Senior VP Augustus de Villa also recently tendered his resignation.
However, according to house public accounts committee chairman Mike Defensor, the corruption could still be traced to the previous administration. Based on an article from PhilStar, Defensor cited the firm’s “all case rates” system established during 2011.
During the probe of the panel on the alleged anomalies, he cited that the system racked up close to P154 billion since 2013. This was due to the “all case rates” system overpaying private hospitals.
As per the article, Defensor said:
The issue persisted and eventually we are all surprised. This is where PhilHealth’s problems started, where funds started to go missing
Additionally, Defensor cited another anomaly in 2013 in the form of PhilHealth’s “fee-for-service” system. Here, the firm would only pay for the exact amount the bill a patient receives from a hospital.
What is fee for service? If you get sick and spend P5,000, for example, pneumonia, you only spend P5,000 but because of the case rate or case-based payment, the hospital will be paid P15,000
Along with this, Defensor urged the House to abolish the corrupt system which according to him, was the root of the corruption in PhilHealth. Afterward, Defensor took to the defense of PhilHealth CEO Ricardo Morales and said that due to the evidence he provided, Morales could not be accountable for the allegations within the firm.
READ ALSO: PhilHealth Chief Ricardo Morales Reacts To Employee’s Corruption Allegation
