Solon to DOH: Budget is available, but stop doctors’ excessive PFs

Parañaque Rep. Brian Raymund Yamsuan MANILA, Philippines — While the House of Representatives is willing to provide the necessary budget to the Department of Health (DOH) for a better implementation of its programs, a lawmaker has urged the agency to find ways to prevent doctors from inflating their professional fees (PF). In a statement on Wednesday, Parañaque Rep. Brian Raymund Yamsuan said that the DOH should work towards ensuring that the Medical Assistance to Indigent and Financially Incapacitated Patients (MAIFIP) program—the department’s primary medical aid mechanism—will be more transparent. Yamsuan said this as several lawmakers raised their constituents’ complaints that doctors are supposedly increasing the professional fees (PFs) once they learn that services will be paid through MAIFIP, which leads to higher hospital bills for patients. Article continues after this advertisement “Kailangan natin tingnan ang transparency and accountability rin ng mga doctors. Kailangan mag-set up [ang DOH] ng mekanismo para to make sure na yung mga kababayan natin hindi malagay sa alanganin,” Yamsuan said after the House committee on appropriations tackled DOH’s proposed 2027 budget. (We need to look at the transparency and accountability of doctors. The DOH should set up a mechanism which would ensure that our fellow FIlipinos are not placed in a precarious situation). Help DOH find funding Yamsuan said that the Budget Amendments and Review Subcommittee (BARSc)—a sub-panel of the committee on appropriations—will help the DOH find funding for programs. During the proceedings of the BARSc, members of the committee, along with representatives of different political parties in the House, publicly realign funds sourced from different agencies towards programs that need more prioritization. In 2025, for the discussions on the 2026 budget, the BARSc reallocated P255 billion of infrastructure funds to health, education, and social services. While they will help DOH, Yamsuan reminded the agency that helping must go both ways. Article continues after this advertisement “Kami sa Kongreso (We in Congress), sa BARSc and also at the bicameral conference committee (Bicam), we will help you. We should be constructive now. We should help each other,” Yamsuan, a member of both the BARSc, said. There have been several concerns about health programs not being adequate come 2027, due to the huge budget cuts experienced by the DOH. Article continues after this advertisement During the hearing of the agency’s 2027 budget before the committee on appropriations last September 2, Health Secretary Edwin Mercado said that DOH and its attached agencies originally proposed P837 billion—but were only allocated P353.8 billion under the 2027 National Expenditures Program (NEP). The NEP is the budget prepared by the executive branch and submitted to Congress for its own deliberations. READ: DOH warns of compromised programs due to possible 2027 budget cut Among the DOH programs that may be affected are the Health Facilities Enhancement Program (HFEP), which got only P14 billion compared to their proposal of P29 billion; hospital operations, which suffered an P11 billion budget cut; and the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth) suffered which got only P73 billion instead of the proposed P379 billion. Your subscription could not be saved. Please try again. Your subscription has been successful. Despite the issues, Yamsuan acknowledged that DepEd under Mercado has implemented a three-pronged mechanism to prevent doctors from inflating their PFs. Among the moves taken by DOH was to speed up PhilHealth’s reimbursement of doctors’ PFs. /cb