PhilHealth gets P16.5B budget increase

MANILA, Philippines, December 22 ------ The Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth) received a significant boost in its budget for 2026 after members of the bicameral conference committee approved a P16.5 billion-worth adjustment to its funding.

At a bicam meeting, Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian confirmed the budget adjustment made to PhilHealth. He particularly noted that the increase by P16.5 billion is meant to cover the deficiency in the appropriated earmarked revenues for PhilHealth from syntaxes. The bicam panel initially approved a budget of P103.2 billion for PhilHealth, but with the increase, it now stands at P129.7 billion. “The funding source for this will be the generated savings from the updated revised CMPD Factor in the [Department of Public Works and Highways],” said Gatchalian.

Gatchalian earlier explained that under the 2026 budget, PhilHealth’s earmarked allocation was only P53.2 billion which was insufficient. This, according to him, is why P16.5 billion from the P20.7 billion that was cut from the DPWH budget will be allocated to PhilHealth to complete the more than P69 billion funding that should be provided to the agency. Meanwhile, the remaining P4.2 billion from the slashed DPWH funding will be placed in the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Fund to be used as assistance for those affected by typhoons and earthquakes.

Source: inquirer.net