Wednesday, June 29, 2011

Register Your Company with PhilHealth

Whether you own a new company or you're a new employer with household help, be sure to register with PhilHealth as an employer so that you could provide your employees with social health insurance coverage as administered by PhilHealth.

Below is your guide on how to register the company to PhilHealth.

Basic Documentary Requirements for private employers:
  • Single Proprietorships:
    • Business permit and/or license to operate;
    • Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) Registration.
  • Partnerships and Corporations:
    • Business permit and/or license to operate;
    • Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Registration.
  • Foundation and Non-profit organizations:
    • Business permit and/or license to operate;
    • Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Registration.
  • Cooperatives:
    • Business permit and/or license to operate;
    • Cooperative Development Authority (CDA) Registration.
  • Backyard industries/ventures and micro-business enterprises:
    • Business permit and/or license to operate;
    • Barangay Certification and/or Mayor's Permit.

What to do?
  • Fill-out the Employer Data Record (ER-1) Form in two (2) copies. You may download the form here;
  • Attach the documentary requirements in the ER-1 form and submit to any PhilHealth Offices near you;
  • When PhilHealth has finished processing your application, you will receive your PhilHealth Employer Number (PEN) and a copy of the Employer Data Record as well as the Certificate of Registration;
  • Post your Certificate of Registration in your office as proof that you have been registration.

Wednesday, June 15, 2011

Preparing for PhilHealth Sabado 2 set on June 25, 2011

The Nationwide PhilHealth Registration Day (NPRD) or what is commonly known as "PhilHealth Sabado, Magseguro, Magparehistro" is a nationwide activity conducted by PhilHealth to fast-track the registration/enrollment under the National Health Insurance Program (NHIP). This is a continuing advocacy program which aims to provide an easier method for non-members of the NHIP to register and pay the one quarter premium contribution by putting up various registration sites aside from PhilHealth Offices that may be open to new registrants or existing members that will be updating their membership record.

With the success of the PhilHealth Sabado conducted last October 2, 2010, PhilHealth shall be conducting the same activity this coming June 25, 2011. If you are planning to join the event, we suggest you to:
  1. Accomplish or fill-out the PhilHealth Membership Registration Form (PMRF) for new registrants and those updating their membership record. The PMRF can be downloaded here. Make sure that you entered your current and complete address including the name of your barangay;
  2. Prepare the necessary supporting documents that you would need to attach to the PMRF such as birth certificates of you and your dependents, marriage certificate (if married), adoption papers of your parent/child (if applicable), annulment/separation papers (if applicable) and others. You may click here to know who you can declare as dependents;
  3. Prepare the premium amount equivalent to a quarter payment for new registrants. You will only be given a PhilHealth ID Card once payment of at least a quarter is made. If you do not pay the premium, you will only be provided a copy of your PhilHealth Identification Number (PIN);
  4. For requests on printing of PhilHealth ID Card / Member Data Record (MDR) please prepare the documentary requirements. For PhilHealth ID Card requests requirements are discussed in this post. For MDR requests, you might be asked to bring with you a request letter, photocopy of two (2) valid ID Cards;
  5. Bring any valid ID Card to be presented during registration/updating.
Depending on the number of registrants and the connectivity of the registration site, there may be cases when your registration forms and attachments will only be received and your Member Data Record (MDR), Open Category Slips or PhilHealth ID Card will be mailed to the address you have provided after the backroom processing of your registration form. This will usually be done by PhilHealth to manage the number of transactions and to maintian a speedy process. Hence, you may take note of the date when the registration form is received and contact the Call Center to follow-up on your registration.

Tuesday, June 7, 2011

What medical procedures are NOT covered by PhilHealth?

The following medical procedures are NOT covered by PhilHealth (at least not at the present time):

  • Fifth and subsequent normal obstetrical deliveries;
  • Non-prescription drugs and devices;
  • Alcohol abuse or dependency treatment;
  • Cosmetic surgery;
  • Optometric services;
  • Other cost-ineffective procedures as defined by PhilHealth.

Thursday, June 2, 2011

What's with all the concurrent OICs in PhilHealth?

While navigating PhilHealth's website in order to find information to answer some questions sent to this blog, we chanced upon their "About Us" and "Executive Officers" page here. we couldn't help but notice that there are an awful lot of Officers-in-Charge or OICs in PhilHealth.

Of course, there's nothing inherently wrong about that. Corporations, private and public, designate OICs all the time as circumstances warrant. What got our attention was the fact that there are quite a lot of concurrent Officers-in-Charge, meaning officers who hold more than one position. Positions that are seemingly incompatible, as the lower designations report to the higher ones.

We find that somewhat puzzling and disturbing.

For example:

A Mr. William O. Chavez is the OIC Senior Vice President for the Operations Sector. He's also the OIC Area Vice President for South Luzon and Visayas. He's also the Regional Vice President for the Region VII PhilHealth Office.

Well, nothing against Mr. Chavez, presumably he's qualified for any of the positions mentioned above. But three concurrent high ranking positions? We're no organizational structure experts, but we presume a regional VP reports to an area VP who then reports to the operations SVP. It kind of misses the point if all those positions are only occupied by one individual. So where's the check and balance? But he's not the only one.

An Atty. Alexander A. Padilla is the Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer. He's concurrently also the OIC Senior Vice President of the Legal Services Sector. So we can assume he gives himself legal advice by being PhilHealth's top lawyer and at the same time it's No. 2 highest ranking officer? They say "A lawyer who handles his own case has a fool for a client". We're not passing judgement folks. We just think something's wrong with this kind of setup. An EVP-COO has a great deal of responsibility. So does an SVP for Legal Services. Why concentrate these responsibilities in one person?

Then there's a Mr. Ramon F. Aristoza, Jr. He's the OIC Area Vice President for Mindanao. At the same time he's the Region XII Regional Vice President. So like Mr. Chavez above, he's the boss of himself.

We're not questioning the qualifications of the people named above. The presumption is that they are qualified otherwise they wouldn't be appointed in the first place. But to hold many simultaneous positions seems questionable from a management point of view.

The moment a person is given more than one important job, his or her effectiveness is reduced in half having to attend to more than one set of responsibilities. It only gets worse if one of the positions held reports to the other position held. It eliminates checks and balance. Why would a higher ranking position question the actions of a lower ranking position if the positions are occupied by only one person? How about approval of documents or requests? Do they countersign their own memos or approve their own requests? It's like being a basketball player and referee at the same time...it makes you ask, what's the point?

We've heard that PhilHealth's high ranking positions offer generous allowances. We wonder if these people receive all the allowances of the positions they occupy, or if that's even the reason why concurrent officers abound in PhilHealth's hierarchy. We hope not.

The possible conclusions one can derive from this setup is that either PhilHealth has a very top heavy organization chock full of surplus positions which really aren't necessary, or that it has a shortage of qualified managers, or that top management doesn't trust others within the organization which may be qualified to hold higher positions.

Of course, they can always claim that it's management prerogative, and of course, they'd be right in that respect. But it doesn't seem, to us at least, the proper way to run what is supposed to be a world-class organization.

You, the members and stakeholders of PhilHealth, be the judge of that.

Wednesday, June 1, 2011

Can a sponsored member continue his or her membership after it expires?

Yes.

Sponsored members are those whose premiums are paid for by local government units, government agencies, or perhaps private institutions, and whose membership lasts for one (1) year. After the expiration of the membership, the member has three options:
  1. If the membership is not renewed, he/she can reapply for the sponsored program again with the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) who will evaluate the application and endorse it to a sponsor;
  2. Continue the membership as an Individually Paying Member(IPM). To avoid any gap in his or her coverage, it is recommended that the member pay the Individually Paying Program (IPP) dues before the expiration of his or her sponsored membership;
  3. If the member manages to find employment, the employer will pay half of his or her premiums and the member will shoulder the other half via salary deduction.
It is not unusual for a PhilHealth member to move between the different classes of PhilHealth membership in a lifetime.

For more information read this post.