ILOILO City – The Sangguniang Panlungsod (SP) authorized Mayor Jerry Treñas to sue officers of the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) in Region 6 over the unpaid claims of nine hospitals and the city government-run molecular laboratory.
The authorization was approved during SP’s special session yesterday.
In a statement, Treñas thanked the city council.
These complaints would be filed with the Office of Ombudsman and the Anti-Red Tape Council.
“We need a strong healthcare system as we face a strong surge of (coronavirus disease) cases and many are seeking to be confined in hospitals, especially the elderly, those with comorbidities and the unvaccinated,” said Treñas.
For Iloilo City hospitals alone and the Uswag Molecular Laboratory, PhilHealth has yet to pay P932.322 million in claims.
Earlier, Atty. Valerie Anne Hollero, PhilHealth regional vice president, said as far as the “payment of good claims within the time provided by law” is concerned, the state insurer has not been remiss.
PhilHealth-6 processed the most number of claims among regions, Hollero said in a statement.
So far this year, a total of 591,148 claims were processed, she stressed.
Hollero also emphasized that PhilHealth-6’s average Turn-Around Time (TAT) for payment of “good claims” is 27 days from the time it is filed by the healthcare institutions (HCIs), making it the “second fastest” among all regions in terms of TAT.
PhilHealth-6 considers “the HCIs as partners and strives to pay the claims as soon as possible”, balancing this with their duty to protect public funds, Hollero added./PN