SC justice calls for PhilHealth overhaul, return of P60B

Supreme Court Associate Justice Antonio Kho Jr. called for a major overhaul of the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth) due to PhilHealth's alleged failure to fully implement mandated benefits, urging President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. to return P60 billion transferred to the national treasury.

During oral arguments on Tuesday, March 4, Justice Kho questioned whether PhilHealth was following the law by not considering sin tax collections when computing its budget request and suggested revamping the PhilHealth board for non-compliance.

PhilHealth president Edwin Mercado acknowledged the dedication of his board members but emphasized that performance will be 'metrics driven' with accountability under his leadership.

The health department noted that PhilHealth lacks absorptive capacity due to insufficient compensation for healthcare workers, inadequate hospital facilities, and other social determinants of health.

PhilHealth is currently in the process of correcting these issues with recent leadership changes and has stated it will abide by whatever decision the Supreme Court makes regarding the P60-billion fund transfer.