Senator Richard Gordon wants all regional directors of Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth) replaced to eradicate the alleged corruption in the state insurer.
Some regional directors have been in their positions for at least 20 years, Gordon, chairman of the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee said in an interview on ABS-CBN News Channel on Thursday.
“Unang una, dapat drain the swamp. Tanggalin lahat ‘yung mga regional directors,” the senator said when asked about concrete ways to resolve corruption issue in PhilHealth.
(First of all, we should drain the swamp. Remove all of the regional directors.)
“Some of the regional directors have been there for 20 to 22 years. Kaya doon mo makikita ‘yung upcasing, tinataas nila ‘yung presyo, ‘yung mga binibigay nila na presyo nagkakaroon sila ng favoritism,” he added.
(Some of the regional directors have been there for 20 to 22 years. You will see the upcasing of cases to increase the payment for claims. They also practice favoritism in the payments.)
Gordon cited as an example the 707,133 pneumonia claims PhilHealth recorded in 2017 when data from the Department of Health showed there were only 454,000 reported pneumonia cases that year.
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Gordon wants PhilHealth regional directors replaced
Aside from replacing these officials, the senator said PhilHealth’s spending should also be strictly monitored.
“Meron tayong board of supervisors na eminent persons to really monitor what is happening, and within the organization, [there should be] establishment of a monitoring group sa central office para nababantayan lahat ‘yan,” he added.
(We should have a board of supervisors composed of eminent persons to really monitor what is happening, and within the organization, a monitoring group in the central office must be established.)
“Dapat magkaroon tayo ng monitoring every week ng mga sinasubmit. Makikita mo, ilan ang binibigay sa doctor na ito, ilan ang binibigay sa hospital na ito. Malalaman natin ngayon. Magkakaroon tayo ng pattern kung ano ang ginagawa nila,” Gordon said.
(We should monitor the claims submitted every week. In this way, you will see how much is being paid to hospitals. We will see their pattern of activities.)