Gov’t orders PhilHealth to waive interest on unpaid contributions
President Marcos said on Thursday that he had ordered the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) to grant a general amnesty on all interest and penalties incurred from unpaid contributions of private employers and self-employed members dating back to 2013.
According to him, the move will ease the financial burden of Filipinos and help them to finally settle their long-standing contribution backlogs without additional charges.
“I directed the PhilHealth to implement this year a one-time waiver for the interest charges [on delayed and unpaid premium contributions] of businessmen, private employers and self-employed members,” Mr. Marcos said in a video message.
“We will give these employers one year to pay their employees’ missed contributions from July 2013 to December 2024,” he added.
Different computations
Based on estimates, Mr. Marcos said the move would benefit about 300,000 employers, who share half of the monthly PhilHealth premium contribution with their employees.
The computation of applicable interests and surcharges on delayed employer remittances of premium contributions vary as these are covered by different issuances.
The current formula follows PhilHealth Circular No. 2016-0034, where the interests and surcharges are computed by multiplying the principal amount by two percent or P200, whichever is higher.
The resulting amount is compounded monthly based on the number of months an employer has missed payments.
In a statement, PhilHealth said it would issue separate guidelines for the employed and self-employed sectors who will avail themselves of the waiver.
However, it clarified that the one-time waiver applies only to interest charges and does not cover unpaid premium contributions.
To further ease the financial burden on covered entities, PhilHealth said it would provide a one-year settlement window from the effectivity of the circular, during which outstanding premium contributions may be paid.
Conditions
“Employers who settle earlier within the prescribed period may qualify for greater reductions in interest, including partial or full waiver, depending on the length of the payment term,” it said.
As part of the program’s safeguards, employers availing of the one-time waiver are required to register their employees under the Yaman ng Kalusugan Program (Yakap), PhilHealth’s expanded primary care benefit package, where members may avail of free checkups, laboratory tests, cancer screening tests and medicines.
Employers must also ensure that their employees will complete the “first patient encounter” under Yakap, where a primary care provider, such as a clinic or hospital, takes or updates the basic health data of a PhilHealth member.
