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Morales identifies hospitals which are main sources of fraud and vows to run after themBy Manila Bulletin

Amid allegations of his involvement in corrupt activities, Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth) President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Ricardo Morales on Monday vowed to run after the main sources of fraud in the agency which are the hospitals that have been making false health claims.

“So we are alerting the regional offices to go after these hospitals and to see to it that this is corrected and anybody guilty should be punished,” he said during an interview over CNN Philippines.

The PhilHealth chief cited that there are currently “about 20,000 cases of potential fraud in our legal offices.”

“About 8,000 here in the central office and about 12,000 in the regions, equivalent to P4.5 billion of potential fraud,” he said.

Morales disclosed that PhilHealth also commissioned a study which was concluded in December last year and showed that the agency’s fraud index is at 7.5 percent.

“So, in other words, for every peso spent, about 7.5 centavos goes to fraud,” he added.

Morales noted that of the P136 billion benefit payments made last year, “about 10 billion of that is fraud.”

“Where is this fraud? Most probably in the hospitals,” the PhilHealth executive said.

“Today, as we speak, there are hospitals out there charging COVID rates for non-COVID cases,” he cited as an example.

With the number of fraud cases PhilHealth is handling, Morales disputed the claim of Sen. Panfilo Lacson that one year was enough time to rid the agency of corruption.

“Kulang isang taon, kulang tatlong taon (One year is not enough, three years are not enough),” the PhilHealth chief said.

Morales welcomed the various investigations taking place to identify corrupt activities in PhilHealth.

“I welcome it. I have nothing to hide. I might be embarrassed but I have nothing to hide,” he said.

The PhilHealth executive expressed confidence that he will be cleared of allegations of being involved in corrupt activities.

Morales also defended his position not to resign due to the ongoing pandemic, the implementation of the Universal Health Care Law, and the need for a systemic solution to rid the agency of fraud including putting in place a IT system.

“It’s not wise to change horses in the middle of the stream. That’s what I was trying to avoid,” he said.

Morales said he leaves it to President Duterte to allow him to stay or not at PhilHealth.

“I have already relayed to my bosses my intentions and it’s up to them to decide,” he said.