Senator and presidential aspirant Panfilo “Ping” Lacson over the weekend said his team has been in coordination with the Justice Department regarding the P15-billion in payments made by the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) to healthcare facilities flagged by state auditors.
In a statement released Sunday, Lacson said he is having the P15-billion advanced payments by PhilHealth fact-checked, after resigned PhilHealth anti-fraud officer Thorsson Montes Keith claimed that the agency’s “mafia” stole such an amount through fraudulent schemes.
“I’m having it fact-checked now… If my memory serves me right, this is actually what we uncovered and exposed during our [Commission on Audit] hearings on the [interim reimbursement mechanism (IRM)] and other misuses of PhilHealth funds,” he was quoted as saying in a report on GMA’s “24 Oras Weekend.”
“We turned over voluminous documents to the [Department of Justice] for the filing of criminal and administrative complaints against former and incumbent officials of PhilHealth,” he added.
The IRM is a system that allows PhilHealth to pay hospitals and healthcare facilities in advance for insurance claims, to ensure that they could function during times of crisis.
PhilHealth defines the IRM as “a special privilege for the provision of substantial aid to an eligible Health Care Institution directly hit by fortuitous events with clear and apparent intent to continuously operate and/or rebuild the HCI in order to provide continuous health care services to adversely affected Filipinos.”
The agency has maintained that the controversial P15 billion in advanced payments through its IRM was not missing, as it had liquidated 98% of the amount.
PhilHealth has since suspended its IRM system “to review its overall implementation and resolve issues arising from congressional inquiries.”
Congressional investigations last year found that IRM funds were also transferred to dialysis centers, infirmaries, and maternity centers even as they could not be considered as responding to “fortuitous” events.
GMA News has sought comment from Philhealth on the matter but officials have yet to respond as of posting time. — Jon Viktor Cabuenas/DVM, GMA News
Lacson in coordination with DOJ over P15 billion payments made by PhilHealth
Source: Balita News
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