The government is moving to extend zero balance billing in public hospitals to include middle class Filipinos, following a directive to widen the reach of hospital care without out of pocket charges for patients admitted to government facilities.
Executive Secretary Ralph Recto said middle class families who are one hospitalization away from bankruptcy should also benefit from the zero balance billing policy currently implemented in selected government hospitals.
Recto said he met with officials of the Department of Health and the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation to ensure that zero balance billing is implemented in a way that allows more patients to leave government hospitals without hospital bills.
He said the meeting with Health Secretary Teodoro Herbosa and PhilHealth president and chief executive officer Edwin Mercado, held in Malacañang on January 20, focused on system wide solutions to ensure that zero balance billing is genuinely felt beyond indigent patients.
Recto urged health officials to expand PhilHealth benefit packages, particularly for middle class contributors who regularly pay premiums and taxes, stressing that contributors should see tangible benefits from the system.
Under the zero balance billing program, patients admitted to the basic or ward accommodation of Department of Health operated hospitals are able to leave without paying hospital bills.
The policy applies only to basic or ward accommodation. Patients who choose to be transferred to private rooms are covered by regular PhilHealth benefits with copayment, which requires them to shoulder part of the hospital cost based on room rates and services.
The Department of Health’s zero balance billing program is different from PhilHealth’s no balance billing policy, which applies only to specific sectors including indigent members, sponsored members, domestic workers, senior citizens, and lifetime PhilHealth members.
Health department data cited in government briefings show that more than 1.3 million patients admitted to Department of Health hospitals in 2025 paid no hospital bills under zero balance billing. From July to December of the same year, hospital charges amounting to P74.65 billion were covered for patients admitted under basic or ward accommodation.
The 2026 national budget allocated funding for the expansion of zero balance billing, including support for selected secondary and tertiary hospitals operated by local government units.
Several specialty hospitals were also allocated additional funding to support zero balance billing implementation, including the Lung Center of the Philippines, National Kidney and Transplant Institute, Philippine Heart Center, and The Philippine Children’s Medical Center. The University of the Philippines Philippine General Hospital was also included in the expansion program.
Recto said closer coordination among national agencies and local government units remains necessary to ensure that health care financing reforms translate into actual relief for patients across income groups.
