Employed sector’s contributions to increase by Jan. 2013 -Philhealth

By Juju Manubag-Empuerto

Thursday 5th of July 2012

CEBU CITY, July 5 (PIA) -- To help attain the country's Universal Health Care and Millennium Development Goals’ (MDGs) health targets by 2015, the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth) will increase premium contributions of the employed sector in January next year.

PhilHealth Circular No. 011-2012 prescribes a new premium contributions schedule for the formal sector employees and their employers to be computed at three percent of the basic monthly salary of the employee effective January 1, 2013.

Employees with monthly salary base of P7,000 and below will have a minimum annual contribution of P2,520 which will be equally shared by the employee and employer.

For employees receiving salary of P7,000 and above, the three percent contribution of the salary will be shared equally by the employee and employer at 1.5 percent each.

The monthly salary ceiling is determined at P50,000. This means that for those earning a monthly salary of P50,000 above, the P1,500 monthly premium rate will be equally shared by the employee and employer at P750 each..

PhilHealth also reminded employers to remit the monthly premium contributions on or before the 10th day of the following applicable month at the Cebu regional office- collection section. For queries, the PhilHealth office numbers are 2333284 or 2333270 local 5522/5527 and look for Tiffany Aislinn Songco and Wendy Mellina.

To enable timely posting of contributions and ensure availment of services in times of need, employers are encouraged to use the Electronic Premium and Reporting System (EPRS), a web-based and user friendly application that allows preparation and submission of premium remittance reports online.

The failure of the employer to remit required contribution and to submit the required remittance list will make the employer liable for reimbursement of payment of a properly filed claim in case the concerned employee or its qualified dependents avail of the benefits of PhilHealth without prejudice to the imposition of other penalties, the circular stated.

PhilHealth’s mandate of providing true financial risk protection to all Filipinos is articulated to its battlecry, “Bawat Pilipino miyembro. Bawat miyembro, protektado. Kalusugan natin sigurado”. (FCR/JSME-PIA7 Cebu).