The return of the PhilHealth funds and the uphill battle for UHC

On May 6, the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) confirmed that it has officially received P60 billion from the National Treasury that was previously diverted in the 2024 budget, upon the directive of the President last September and following the Supreme Court order to return the transferred funds in December.

PhilHealth also assured the public that every peso of the restored funds will be spent wisely to improve healthcare benefits and deliver quality healthcare for every Filipino.

Although the return of the PhilHealth funds is a welcome development after a hard-won battle fought by Filipinos from all sectors, health advocates are still calling on the government, especially PhilHealth and the Department of Health (DoH), to take this opportunity to seriously pursue full implementation of universal healthcare (UHC), seven years after the passage of the UHC Act.

First, the P60 billion in diverted funds were returned from the National Treasury after funds were already spent on various projects within the 2024 budget’s Unprogrammed Appropriations — including infrastructure and salary standardization for government workers, among others. The government should not have taken away the PhilHealth funds, which are the insurance premiums of the most vulnerable and could have spelled the difference between life or death for thousands of Filipino patients.

Second, the returned P60 billion is much less than what PhilHealth should have been allocated from sin taxes and what it needs to cover the healthcare services of all its members.

Health advocates’ latest computation of PhilHealth’s deficit is at least P356 billion from 2023 to 2025, due to a failure to allocate indigent patients their legally mandated premiums. Coupled with the rapid expansion in benefit packages since 2024, PhilHealth’s financial woes are far from over with the return of the P60 billion in diverted funds.

In June 2025, a petition led by advocacy groups such as Social Watch Philippines, the Medical Action Group, Sentro ng mga Nagkakaisa at Progresibong Manggagawa, and the Likhaan Center for Women’s Health was filed at the Supreme Court challenging the zero budget allocated to PhilHealth in 2025, as well as Congress’ failure to fully allocate PhilHealth’s share of sin taxes, and the non-remittance to PhilHealth of its mandated share of Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (Pagcor) and Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) funds. The Supreme Court has yet to decide on this petition, but its decision could permanently shape the way the Congress allocates funds for our national health insurer and could hopefully provide clear guidelines on the “ringfencing” of PhilHealth’s funds.

In addition, both those in Congress and the Executive responsible for the transfer need to be held accountable for their illegal acts.

We must not forget that PhilHealth was not the only government-owned and -controlled corporation (GOCC) whose funds were diverted through the 2024 budget — the Philippine Deposit Insurance Corp. (PDIC) remitted P107.23 billion to the National Treasury in 2024, causing PDIC’s total assets to fall by 18.1%.

Despite the Supreme Court ruling that the special provision in the 2024 budget which allowed the PhilHealth and PDIC fund transfers and the Department of Finance (DoF) circular implementing them were unconstitutional, both DoF Secretary Frederick Go and his predecessor who implemented the transfer, now-Executive Secretary Ralph Recto, are not of the belief that the ruling also covers the PDIC’s funds. Civil society advocates fully support the PDIC as it studies options to recover the P107.23 billion taken by the government in 2024.

Lastly, PhilHealth having adequate financing is only the first crucial step towards systemic reform to achieve true Universal Healthcare.

Rolling out PhilHealth benefits on the ground still proves to be a challenge, and many Filipinos are still unaware of PhilHealth’s primary care program, unable to access the care they need due to financial incapacity, and choose to avoid seeking care until symptoms have worsened and the treatment needed will incur catastrophic health expenses. It is the advocates’ hope that the return of PhilHealth’s funds marks the beginning of a new phase for UHC.

Pia Rodrigo is AER’s strategic communication officer.