Top Ten PhilHealth 101 Posts for 2011

This blog was created last March as our own small way of helping PhilHealth members deal with some of their concerns regarding their PhilHealth membership, benefits, etc. Well, nine months and 48,000+ hits later, we come to the end of 2011. We have 100+ posts under our belt from the time we started, and some posts are just more popular than others.

And with that, we are pleased to present to you our top ten most popular posts for the year 2011:

10. New PhilHealth Card

9. Sample PhilHealth Request Letter

8. Tips in Availing PhilHealth Benefits

7. How to Check Your Premium Payment Contributions

6. NCR: Directory of PhilHealth Offices

5. What is a PhilHealth MDR (Member Data Record)?

4. How to Update Your Membership Record with PhilHealth

3. Download the PhilHealth Premium Payment Slip (PPPS)

2. Getting the Fully Loaded PhilHealth Card with Privileges

And lastly, the most read PhilHealth 101 post for 2011 is:

1. How to Request for a New PhilHealth ID Card

We hope you have found our posts even just a little helpful, and our sincere thanks to all those who have visited us in the past nine months. We aim to continue writing more PhilHealth-related posts in the coming year, and we hope you'll still visit us in 2012.

Seasons greetings, and a happy, healthy, and prosperous new year to all!

Increase in Premium Contributions Starting CY 2012

The newly released PhilHealth Circular No. 22 s-2011 "New Premium Contributions to the National Health Insurance Program (NHIP) in Support to the Attainment of Universal Health Care and Millenium Development Goals (MDG)", has announced the implementation of new premium rates for CY 2012.

Affected programs are the Sponsored Program (SP), Individually Paying Program (IPP), Overseas Workers Program (OWP) and the employed program. Below summarizes the new rates per program classification.


Sponsored Program

• Members included in the DSWD NHTS-PR list will be covered for 2 years. Annual premium shall be Php2,400.00 effective January 1, 2012;
• Annual premiums for the partial subsidy will be increased from Php1,200 to Php2,400 effective JULY 2012. 
• For sponsors who enroll and pay their contributions within the first semester, the annual premium shall be Php1,200.00;
• For sponsors who enroll and commits to pay for its members a period of two (2) consecutive years, the annual premium shall be Php1,200.00.

Individually Paying Members

• Starting JULY 2012, the annual premium contribution will be Php2,400.00, quarterly payment shall be Php600.00 and monthly premiums will be Php200.00;
• Self-employed professionals earning an average monthly income of more than Php25,000 will pay an annual rate of Php3,600. For self-employed professionals earning Php25,000 or less, they will be required to present an ITR as proof of income;
• Members paying their annual contributions within the first semester 2012 will still be able to pay the Php1,200 annual premium;
• Members paying for two (2) consecutive years within the first semester of 2012 will be paying for the annual premium rate of Php1,200.00.

Overseas Filipino Workers (OFW)

• Starting January 2012, the annual premium contribution for OFWs will be increased from Php900.00 to Php1,200.00;
• Starting July 2012, the annual premium to be implemented will be Php2,400.00;
• For payment of two (2) consecutive years within the first semester of 2012, the annual rate to be applied will still be Php1,200.00.

Employed Sector

• Effective January 2013, the premium contributions for the employed sector shall be three percent (3%) of the basic monthly salary of the employee shared equally by the employer;
• Monthly Salary Base = Php7,000.00 and Monthly Salary Ceiling = Php50,000.00.

The need of increasing the members' premium contribution have been cited by PhilHealth President Dr. Eduardo P. Banzon as reported by SunStar (see article here) last November 2011 as necessary in sustaining the enhanced PhilHealth benefits.

Please help the victims of Sendong

Who are qualified to enroll under the Lifetime Member Program (LMP)?

New registrants that have reached retirement age may be eligible to enroll under the Lifetime Member Program being implemented by PhilHealth. Lifetime members are no longer required to pay monthly premium contributions but may still avail of the same PhilHealth benefits offered in other programs such as those provided for  employed or individually paying members.

Registrants that are not able to meet the qualifications may still opt to enroll in PhilHealth under the Individually Paying Program (IPP).

Who are qualified to enroll under the Lifetime Program

• Old-age retirees and pensioners of the GSIS, including uniformed and non-uniformed personnel of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), Philippine National Policy (PNP), Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP), and the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP) who have reached the compulsory age of retirement before June 24, 1997, and retirees under Presidential Degree 408;
• GSIS disability pensioners prior to March 4, 1995;
• SSS pensioners prior to March 4, 1995;
• SSS permanent total disability pensioners;
• SSS death/survivorship pensioners.
• SSS old age retirees/pensioners;
• Uniformed members of the AFP, PNP, BFP and BJMP who have reached the compulsory age of retirement on or after June 24, 1997, being the effectivity date of RA 8291 which excluded said individuals in the compulsory membership of the GSIS;
• Retirees and pensioners who are members of the judiciary;
• Retirees who are members of Constitutional Commission and other constitutional offices;
• Former employees of the government and/or private sectors who have accumulated/paid at least 120 monthly premium contributions as provided for by law but separated from employment before reaching sixty (60) years old and thereafter has reached age sixty (60);
• Former employees of the government and/or private sector who were separated from employment without completing 120 monthly premium contributions but continued to pay their premium payment as individually paying members (IPM) until completion of the required 120 monthly premium contributions and have reached age sixty (60) as provided for by law;
• Individually paying members (IPM), including SSS self-employed and voluntary members who continued paying premium contributions to PhilHealth, have reached age sixty (60) and have met the 120 monthly premium contributions as provided for by law; and,
• Retired underground mine workers who have reached the age of retirement as provided for by law and have met the minimum required premium contributions.

Are PhilHealth premiums taxable? No, they are not.

Please note that the above Revenue Memorandum Circular and its subsequent amendment, specifically the portions referring to the taxability of PhilHealth premiums only apply to contributions over and above the mandatory/compulsory contributions. In the case of PhilHealth, it presently does not have any mechanism allowing payment of premiums over that prescribed by law or by PhilHealth itself. As such, no taxes are imposable on PhilHealth premiums.

Stated another way, PhilHealth premiums may only be taxable if the payments are over and above the premiums prescribed by law or by PhilHealth. Since PhilHealth only collects compulsory/mandatory premiums, these compulsory/mandatory premiums are not covered by the BIR circular and thus are not taxable.

Other references:

PhilHealth contributions not taxable -PHIC
No tax on PhilHealth premium
NO taxes on PhilHealth contributions