Eleazar: PhilHealth officials should be held accountable

MANILA, Philippines — As claims of several hospitals from the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) remain unpaid, senatorial aspirant Guillermo Lorenzo Eleazar said government officials behind this neglect should be held accountable.

A known disciplinarian, Eleazar lamented the continuous failure of the state insurer to settle its reimbursement payments to the hospitals which amount to several millions of pesos.

“This is totally unacceptable. Napakatagal na isyu na nitong hindi pagbabayad ng PhilHealth pero tila wala pa ring nananagot sa mga delays na ito (PhilHealth’s non-payment has long been an issue and yet no one has been made accountable for the delays). Those behind this neglect should be held accountable to send a strong message that poor and slow performance and slow response have no place in public service,” he said.

At least seven private hospitals in Iloilo decided not to renew their accreditation with PhilHealth citing as reason unpaid reimbursement claims that amount to some P545 million.

Eleazar stressed that the unresolved issue would affect citizens especially since the country is still battling the COVID-19 pandemic and many people rely on their PhilHealth benefits to ease the burden of hospital bills.

“Our countrymen are the real victims here if this does not get resolved. PhilHealth service has become much more urgent due to the threat and impact of the pandemic. The PhilHealth leadership should do something about this

Earlier, Eleazar said he would push for reforming the entire agency to rid it of corruption.

“Maraming kailangang ayusin sa PhilHealth at handa tayong ilaban ito kung palarin tayong manalo sa darating na halalan. Maninindigan tayo sa tama at hindi natin palulusutin ang katiwalian sa PhilHealth (There are many things in PhilHealth needing to get fixed and we are ready to give some fight if we get elected. We will stand for what is right and we will not let corruption in PhilHealth go unpunished),” Eleazar, former national police chief, said.

PhilHealth had said it was already addressing its payables to the hospitals, and that it was increasing its manpower to hasten the processing of claims.