MANILA, April 24 (PIA) – The Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth) on Thursday (April 23) warned employers who fail to fulfill their obligations to their respective employees by not remitting, under-remitting or not reporting premium contributions.
PhilHealth gave the warning after receiving reports on erring employers and relative to Circular No. 003, s. 2015 that pertains to the “Recovery of Payments for Properly Filed Claims by Employed Members but without Qualifying Contributions”.
Circular No. 003, s. 2015 applies to all claims of employee-members and/or their qualified dependents duly paid for by PhilHealth but later found out to have no qualifying contributions.
Said Circular empowers PhilHealth to recover the said claim payments including unpaid premiums plus all applicable interests/penalties from delinquent, under-remitting, non-remitting and/or non-reporting employers.
Also under Circular No. 003, erring employers are classified as: delinquent, under-remitting, non-remitting or non-reporting.
Delinquent employers are those who have missed payment of the monthly contribution in behalf of all its employees for at least one (1) month within a period of six (6) months.
Under-remitting employers are those who remitted and reported contributions for all its employees that are less than the amount of premium prescribed by PhilHealth and/or employers who remitted the prescribed amount of contribution but did not include all its employees.
Non-remitting employers are those who have not remitted any premium contributions in behalf of its employees from the start of their operations or those who have not paid any premium contributions for six months or more.
Non-reporting employers may be registered or unregistered, who may or may not have remitted premium contributions in behalf of its employees and has not submitted any reports for at least one month within a period of six (6) months.
Depending on the employers’ violations, PhilHealth shall impose respective penalties based on the Revised Implementing Rules and Regulations (RIRR) of the National Health Insurance Act of 2013.
In case of a properly-filed claim of an employee-member which was later found out to have no qualifying contributions, the employer will be liable to reimburse the full amount to PhilHealth.
For failure or refusal to register or deduct contributions, the employer shall be penalized with a fine of not less than five thousand pesos (Php 5,000.00) multiplied by the total number of employees of the firm.
For failure or refusal to remit (and/or report) contributions the employer shall be punished with a fine of not less than five thousand pesos (Php 5,000.00) but not more than ten thousand pesos (Php 10,000.00) multiplied by the total number of employees of the firm.
“We do not want any employee or their dependents to experience non-availment of PhilHealth benefits because of the employers’ negligence. That is why we are issuing this reminder for the benefit of over 13 million employees, both in the public and private sectors,” said Mr. Alexander A. Padilla, PhilHealth president and CEO. (PHIC). (PHIC/RJB/KCDA/PIA-NCR)