DOH: Excess PhilHealth funds partly went to health workers’ allowance

MANILA, Philippines — A portion of the excess funds of the state-owned Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) transferred to the national treasury was used to finance the recently released health emergency allowance (HEA) for healthcare workers, the Department of Health (DOH) said on Wednesday.

DOH Assistant Secretary Albert Domingo told reporters that about P20 billion of the P89.9 billion of PhilHealth’s unused government subsidy was used to settle the unpaid HEA.

“We agree with our civil society organizations and individuals who say that health funds should be used for health purposes. As we understand it, and as stated by the [DOH], the funds taken from PhilHealth were used to fund the HEA for our health-care workers. So, in a sense, the money just moved from the bank to the people,” he explained.

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