PhilHealth says private hospital claims 'fully paid'

Some hospitals threaten won't renew accreditation due to gov't debt 

The Philippine Health Insurance Corporation said Monday that it had "fully paid" the reimbursement claims of private hospitals, some of which threatened not to renew its accreditation with the agency over its alleged debt. 

PhilHealth settled P69 billion worth of hospital claims this year alone, said its president, Ricardo Morales. 

"We're fully paid up to October 2019," he told radio DZMM. 

Some members of the Private Hospital Association of the Philippines (PHAP), however, may no longer renew their accreditation to provide services to PhilHealth patients starting January due to supposed debts by the state insurance corporation, the group's president Dr. Rustico Jimenez earlier said. 

"Di na nila matagalan kasi wala na silang pambayad sa payroll and everything," he said in a separate DZMM interview. 

(They cannot stand it anymore because they no longer have funds for payroll and everything.) 

"Iyong binabayaran po nila (PhilHealth) iyong kasalukuyan, ang naiwan po iyong dati," Jimenez added. 

(They are paying for the current claims, the earlier ones are still unsettled.) 

Morales urged Jimenez to "careful with his words and not to threaten PhilHealth." 

"Baka (perhaps) he does not speak for the entire membership of PHAPI," said the PhilHealth president. 

DZMM, October 21, 2019