DOH to implement zero balance billing in selected LGU hospitals

MANILA, Philippines, January 11 ------ The Department of Health (DOH) on Monday said its zero balance billing policy will now be implemented in selected local government unit – owned hospitals after President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. announced that P1 billion of the agency’s budget will be used for the program.

In a statement following the signing of the 2026 General Appropriations Act, the DOH noted that Marcos “has confirmed that P1 billion from the DOH budget will be used to start supporting large hospitals being run by [local government units].” “With this budget, the expenses of patients in the basic accommodation of some LGU hospitals will now be zero,” the DOH said.

The zero balance billing policy, which began implementation on May 18 last year, was previously only applicable to patients in basic or ward accommodation of 87 DOH-operated hospitals. Also on Monday, Health Secretary Teodoro Herbosa explained in a press briefing that the P1 billion allocation will not be enough to cover all LGU hospitals, which is why the agency will have to choose which facilities will get part of the budget. “We will choose. We will put up guidelines. We will choose hospitals that are in the higher level, level 2 [or] level 3. Secondly, provinces that do not have or are far away from a DOH hospital, they will be prioritized,” he said.

Herbosa said that there are currently 17 Level 3 LGU-owned hospitals in the country. This hospitals, he explained, have services, such as an intensive care unit, that are “very similar” to those in DOH hospitals. “So wait for it. We will create the correct guidelines so that [the fund] will not run out quickly, be able to save it for the whole year and benefit more Filipinos,” he added.

In its statement, the DOH said it will “use as a basis the local health systems maturity levels and other technical preparations” in choosing which LGU hospitals will implement the zero balance billing. Factors such as the “eligibility criteria, reporting requirement and compliance obligations” will also be considered to ensure that a hospital can continuously implement the zero balance billing policy, the agency added.

The DOH also assured that “the fund will go directly to large LGU hospitals, and just like zero balance billing of DOH [hospitals], it does not require any ‘guarantee letter’ from politicians.” Aside from the P1-billion allocation, Herbosa said part of the budget of the DOH’s Medical Assistance to Indigent and Financially Incapacitated Patients (MAIFIP) program can also be used as additional funding for the implementation of zero balance billing in LGU hospitals.

The MAIFIP program was previously criticized by several civil society groups for acting as a “health pork barrel” because it relies on guarantee letters issued by politicians. However, Herbosa said Senate President Vicente Sotto III had already approached him and assured that the program’s budget will no longer be used as a pork barrel “for they included in the special provision: No elected official can interfere in the utilization of the” MAIFIP. Herbosa stressed that the DOH, together with the executive branch of the government, will handle the distribution of MAIFIP. Patients who wish to avail medical assistance under the program can now go directly to the DOH or its regional offices, he said.

Source: inquirer.net