Members with Multiple Employment Can Avail Refund or Adjustment for Overpayment of Personal Share

Overpayment of Premium Contribution due to multiple employment is a situation where a person is employed in more than one employer and both employers are remitting PhilHealth contributions as mandated by Section 18-20 of the Implementing Rules and Regulations of R.A. 7875.

To resolve this situation, PhilHealth has released PhilHealth Circular No. 05 s-2009. In this circular PhilHealth members are given the option to apply the overpayment to succeeding months or to request for a refund of the personal share. The personal share is the amount being deducted to the employee. Discussed below are the two options.

Overpayment of Personal Share Applied to Succeeding Months

• Adjustment can be done only once.
• The following qualifications/conditions must be met by the requesting member:
• Member is currently unemployed;
• Aggregate monthly premium contribution is greater than the maximum premium rate in the prescribed premium contribution schedule (this may be based on the current rate at the time of the contribution);
• Overpayment occurred due to multiple employment;
• Overpayment incurred from January 2009 onwards (based on effectivity of the Circular);
• The period covered for adjustment is posted in PhilHealth's contribution database and Treasury database. (This means that you should be included in the monthly report prepared by your employer and the employer is paying the contribution as evidenced by the record in the Treasury database.)
• The overpayment of the personal share shall be reflected or adjusted as an advance payment of the premium contribution for the Individually Paying Member.

This alternative may be used by those shifting to the Individually Paying Member (IPM) category. It is advised however, that prior to paying the premium contribution as an IPM, you may request for the adjustment so that you will only be paying the remaining balance of your premium contribution dues for the current year.

Request for Refund of Personal Share

• This alternative is only available to members under the Lifetime membership program or eligible members of the said program.
• Qualifications are as follows:
• Overpayment was due to multiple employment;
• Overpayment was incurred only upon effectivity of the Circular;
• The period covered for adjustment is posted in PhilHealth's contribution and treasury database (This means that you should be included in the monthly report prepared by your employer and the employer is paying the contribution as evidenced by the record in the Treasury database.);
• Member is no longer employed;
• Member is 60 years old and above and has paid the 120 monthly premium contributions.
• Only the personal share shall be refunded to the member.

Documentary Requirements to avail of the Two (2) Options:

• Filled-out request form/letter requesting of adjustment or refund of overpayment in personal share (specify the period where you are being deducted more than once, include the names of your employers for the corresponding period);
• Copy of any 2 valid IDs with photo;
• Copy of Employment Contract reflecting monthly income and status of employment from each of your employers;
• Certificate of Employment with monthly income and status of of employment signed by the employers;
• Other documents required by the Collection Section of PhilHealth.

Before going to the PhilHealth Office, call the Collection Section first so that you will be sure what other documents they will be requiring you to bring.

Prepare and Submit the PhilHealth Employer Remittance Report (RF1) Online using the Electronic Premium Reporting System (EPRS)

A new reporting scheme has been launched on October 1, 2010 enabling the online preparation and submission of the Employer’s Remittance Report (RF1) by using the Electronic Premium Reporting System (EPRS). The availability of the online reporting scheme was announced under Circular No. 30, s-2010 published on October 28, 2010 in the PhilHealth website.

The EPRS is a web-based application which facilitates not only the posting of individual premium contributions but also the assignment of the PhilHealth Identification Number (PIN) for unregistered members.

There are three (3) major advantages in using this scheme:

1. Facilitates the assignment of PhilHealth Identification Numbers (PIN) to unregistered NHIP members.

2. Faster posting of employee contributions as the report directly prepared by the employer will be automatically posted in the PhilHealth database upon PhilHealth validation.

3. Ensures that the total contributions of the report would tally with the actual payment made as the report will be prepared prior payment of contributions.

Requirements in using the EPRS:

1. The reporting employer should have its own PhilHealth Employer Number (PEN). The PEN will be issued to the employer once the employer registers with PhilHealth.

2. The employer should be directly remitting or paying to any PhilHealth office.

3. The period and amount of the report being prepared and that reflected in the receipt should be the same.

The employer would need to be trained in using the web-based application. You will be required to fill-out a PhilHealth Online Access Form (POAF). The user account will be electronically sent in the email address you specified in the form so be sure to provide a valid and active email address. To request for the training schedule, contact any PhilHealth office near you.

I just hope that this will be the starting point of PhilHealth in providing an easier means to access their services and that the infrastructure of PhilHealth is capable in maintaining this facility.