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PhilHealth warns Congress, budget officials: benefit cost baseline has tripled, funding model must change
PhilHealth is sounding the alarm on the long-term sustainability of its benefit expansion program, with its president and chief executive officer warning that the current pace of growth in benefit costs cannot be maintained beyond 2026 without a fundamental shift in how the country’s health…
PhilHealth exploring AI use for faster claims processing
PhilHealth is looking at deploying artificial intelligence to pre-screen and flag claims as the state health insurer faces a projected surge to 22 million claims in 2026, translating to more than 1.5 million claims per month. In an interview on DZRH News program Special on Saturday on June 13…
PhilHealth expands YAKAP clinic network from 119 to 4,376 clinics, targets 5,000 by end of year
PhilHealth has expanded its primary care clinic network under the YAKAP program from just 119 accredited facilities in 2022 to 4,376 as of 2026 under the administration of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., with a target of reaching 5,000 clinics by the end of the year. In an interview on DZRH News…
PhilHealth benefit payments surge 250% since 2023, from ₱119-B to ₱378-B
PhilHealth benefit payments are projected to reach ₱378 billion in 2026, nearly tripling the ₱119 billion recorded in 2023, as the state health insurer accelerates coverage expansion under the Universal Health Care law, its president and chief executive officer said Saturday. PhilHealth President…
Philippine government alarmed as HIV cases hit 4,633 in first quarter alone
The Philippine government is raising the alarm after the country recorded 4,633 new confirmed HIV cases in the first quarter of this year, with health officials warning that the epidemic is accelerating at a dangerous pace. Philippine National AIDS Council (PNAC) Executive Director Dr. Joselito…
What you need to know about HIV: transmission, prevention, and where to get tested
The Philippine National AIDS Council is urging every Filipino to arm themselves with accurate information about HIV, as new data shows the country’s epidemic is accelerating at an alarming pace. HIV, or Human Immunodeficiency Virus, was first discovered in 1981 and the Philippines recorded its…
Health officials sound alarm as HIV cases hit Filipinos as young as 15
Filipino youth are now the face of the country’s HIV epidemic, with those aged 15 to 34 making up 77% of new confirmed cases recorded in the first quarter of this year, according to the Philippine National AIDS Council. PNAC Executive Director Dr. Joselito Feliciano raised the figures during an…
‘Distance between them is a million miles apart’: Ted Herbosa is no Juan Flavier, says public health expert
Public health expert Dr. Tony Leachon has pushed back sharply against the promotional video circulating among government officials that pitches Health Secretary Ted Herbosa as a future senator in the mold of the late Senator Juan Flavier, saying the comparison stretches credibility beyond…
Herbosa for Senator? Promo video makes rounds inside DOH as agency is plunged into cycle of corruption allegations
Even as the Department of Health (DOH) sinks deeper into a cycle of corruption allegations, a promotional video pushing Secretary Ted Herbosa as a future senator is quietly making the rounds among top DOH officials and government figures outside the agency. The one-minute, 25-second material…
DOH chief Herbosa hit yet again with graft charges, this time over P1.4-billion expired medicines, vaccines
Health Secretary Teodoro “Ted” Herbosa and 16 other Department of Health officials were slapped Tuesday afternoon with a fresh batch of criminal and administrative complaints before the Office of the Ombudsman — this time over more than P1.4 billion worth of medicines and vaccines that allegedly…
Manila becomes first city to launch preschool milk program using local dairy
The City Government of Manila has become the first local government unit in the country to roll out a supplemental milk-feeding program for preschoolers using locally produced milk, a move the National Dairy Authority (NDA) said sets a national benchmark in linking child nutrition with supporting…
Ping Lacson refuses to sign 2026 budget bicam report over ‘medical aid,’ farm-to-market roads
Senate President Pro Tempore Panfilo “Ping” Lacson said he will refuse to sign the bicameral conference committee report on the 2026 national budget unless provisions granting a massive increase for the Medical Assistance to Indigent and Financially Incapacitated Patients (MAIFIP) and billions for…
DOH in hot water as audit report reveals ₱134.2M in expired and nearly expired medicines under Herbosa’s watch
Senator Sherwin Gatchalian on Thursday, December 11, condemned the Department of Health (DOH) after a Commission on Audit (COA) report revealed ₱134.2 million worth of expired and nearly expired medicines under DOH Secretary Ted Herbosa’s watch. In its annual audit report for the DOH in 2024, the…
Abolish guarantee letters and pay hospitals directly through PhilHealth, says Dr. Tony Leachon: ‘Para bang namamalimos tayo sa pulitiko’
Public health expert Dr. Tony Leachon urged the government on Saturday, December 6 to scrap the use of guarantee letters and shift to automatic PhilHealth payments, saying the current system forces patients to beg politicians for assistance. Speaking on DZRH News program Special on Saturday…
Ted Herbosa ‘cannot feign ignorance’: DOH chief under fire as hundreds of ‘ghost hospitals’ undermine Universal Healthcare
Health Secretary Teodoro Herbosa is facing mounting scrutiny over hundreds of non-operational hospitals and billions of pesos in lost funds that threaten the implementation of the Universal Health Care (UHC) law. In an interview on DZRH’s Special on Saturday program on October 4, public health…