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PhilHealth open to partner with private sector

Philhealth Vice President Walter Bacareza tells _The Manila Times_ in an interview on Feb. 26, 2026 that the state health insurer is ready to partner with the private sector, noting that it has made reforms in payment to private hospitals. He also lauded _The Manila Times_ for holding the health forum and partnering with the state health insurer in informing the public.

VIDEO BY RED MENDOZA

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Transcript
00:00I am so thankful for having been or many times inviting PhilHealth and especially me to attend this for us.
00:08Because it's a venue for us to tell the public what's new in PhilHealth and to clear the air of
00:15Ms. Ano ba talagang totoo.
00:17And I am so happy with Manila Times with Ms. Madame Blanca Mercado.
00:25I think she's also passionate about health.
00:28And we appeal to our friends from media to help us spread the good news that healthcare is now available
00:35and a payer for healthcare is available.
00:37And that we are inviting all providers to fill in the supply side.
00:43Kasi meron ng procurer. And then after that we will hope but I'm sure that pag meron ng facilities in
00:51the market, the demand side will follow.
00:54Sir, possible po ba na in the future, in the near future, kasi ang aim nga po ng universal healthcare
00:59is free healthcare for all, whether private or public.
01:03In the future po ba, are we hoping po ba ng pati private sector din po ba mabigyan din po
01:08ng semblance ng no-balance billing?
01:11Yes. Now it is started by Department of Health. I would like to congratulate Secretary Ted Herbosa for talagang making
01:19a stand na pag sa DOH, wala kang babayaran sa ward beds.
01:25And in private hospitals naman, mandated by law na 10%, dapat no-balance billing din.
01:33So, we are hoping that they will follow suit. The Philippine Hospital Association, the Philippine Private Hospital Association,
01:41nag-promise sila sa amin that they will cooperate and strictly enforce the 10% no-balance billing beds.
01:50Because they have seen na mabilis na ang bayad namin, number two, and we were able to reconcile the accounts,
01:56di ba, para sinasabi nila, hindi kami nagbabayad.
01:58So, we are now starting to reconcile. And number three, we are also looking for ways to incentivize private hospitals
02:07and of course,
02:07government hospitals, basta sumunod kung ano ang meron dun sa batas. So, yun po.
02:13Lasa lang po. Any message lang po siguro sa public natin. Of course, people always think of PhilHealth na parang
02:19kulang sa bayad,
02:20hindi kulang yung binibigay ng PhilHealth. Siguro, remind nila po sa public how PhilHealth is there for those na kailangan
02:29magpagamot, magkasagat ng hospital po.
02:32So, ngayon, gusto kong ipaalam sa publiko na una sa lahat, we have stabilized the payment cycle or turnaround time
02:39to 22 days.
02:41We made sure na we are now talking to the facilities so that accounts o yung mga unpaid, which is
02:46about 2% to 3%, are settled.
02:49Ano bang reason? Number three, we have also increased already benefit packages, doubling it at the minimum.
02:57And there are even packages that we have increased thousands of times percent.
03:03For example, yung breast cancer from 100,000 to 1.4 million.
03:09So, my point is, there's a buyer and we pay the facilities and we have increased the benefit packages.
03:19And we hope that the supply side will follow so that if the supply side is there in the market
03:24already, the demand side will naturally follow.
04:00You
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