The total Health Emergency Allowance (HEA) obligation of P103.5 billion is now 90 percent paid, following the decision of President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr.
to fully fund the remaining P27.3 billion this year. The Department of Health, as the implementing agency, has settled around P14.
5 million claims from health workers. In April of this year, DOH recorded around P23.4 billion worth of HEA obligations for P4.
3 million claims that could not be paid due to budget constraints. After DOH processed and granted appeals, this number rose to P27.3 billion.
Last July, President Marcos instructed Budget and Management Secretary Amenah Pangandaman to no longer wait for the General Appropriations Act of 2025 to pay this amount and to process it this year. The surplus fund balance or excess payments which PhilHealth returned to the national government provided the cash needed. The Department of Budget and Management (DBM) thus immediately released a Special Allotment Release Order (SARO) to enable to DOH to fulfill the obligation.
As of September 20, 2024, 64 percent of the additional P27.3 billion has already been disbursed. Health facilities have been key players to the final payment of HEA to health workers themselves.
DOH has listed 2,853 such facilities; checks have been issued to 2,070 (73 percent) of them. In compliance with the Commission on Audit (COA) guidelines, the DOH is continually reminding 517 of them to finalize the Memorandum of Agreement or MOA and 649 of them to comp.