Solon asks PhilHealth to start dealing strict disciplinary sanctions in order to finally end issues of fraudulent activities

By Office of Cong. Janette L. Garin
January 14, 2012

QUEZON CITY  –  The Philippine Health Insurance agency finds itself again embroiled in claims of fraud and illegal practices this time involving one of the largest BPO companies in the country. The question begging for an answer now is: What is PhilHealth doing about it?

Accenture is a global company with more than a hundred thousand employees in 48 countries. Investing in our country, Accenture Manila BPO was started in 2003 and has since employed more than a thousand people which the company considers its key to its success.

In recent news, it was brought to light that five (5) PhilHealth employees are said to be under investigation after the P114M worth of PhilHealth contributions of the BPO company went missing.

Allegedly the now suspended employees were able to manipulate PhilHealth's database.

This new accusation of fraud within the PhilHealth System echo past unresolved cases filed against the agency.

As mentioned by Rep. Janette L. Garin (1st District, Iloilo) in her numerous interviews, since 1995, it has been consistently reported by media that PhilHealth suffer huge unnecessary losses of about P4B due to fraudulent reimbursements and claims.

Unnecessary and overpriced medical procedures and fake medical missions such as the one exposed by Rep. Garin (vice-chair of House committees on Health and Population and Family Relations) involving “suspicious” cataract medical mission in her region as well as the postal checks scam drain one of the “laudable projects of the government”.

Rep. Garin laments that to date some of these issues remain unresolved by PhilHealth, that despite numerous exposés on the modus operandi and highly unethical practices involving some health care providers, employers, members and even PhilHealth personnel themselves, no disciplinary sanctions have been imposed to prevent the wounds inflicted on the much vulnerable health insurance agency from festering further and developing into an untreatable infection.

In spite of the subsequent filing of bills seeking to empower PhilHealth, the government agency tasked to provide insurance coverage to all Filipinos remain embattled in controversy harming not only the government agency itself but the very people it seeks to help out.

To keep the problem from escalating further, Rep. Garin together with her co-lawmakers are calling on PhilHealth officials to begin imposing stiffer penalties and more potent sanctions to protect it from further abuses.