The Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (Philhealth) urges its members who have deficits in their premium payments to settle these as soon as possible in order to avoid possible penalties, surcharges or interests.
This was the advice of Dina Cinchez, the public affairs head of the Regional Office of the Philhealth in a radio interview over Open Forum on Jan. 10, 2023, hosted by Ardy Araneta-Batoy and Dave Albarado.
Cinchez said if members were unable to pay the right amount of premium to the state health insurer, it is proper to coordinate with the local office and settle the right amount before the agency will start to impose penalties, surcharges or interest.
Cinchez said the agency has yet to set the deadline for the settlement of the discrepancies in the premium payment.
It can be noted that there are some members especially the self-paying ones who were unaware of increases in the premium payments and continued to pay the old rates.
These people were later informed that they need to pay more as the premium payments have increased starting in 2019.
Cinchez explained that under the Universal Health Care Law, the Philhealth was mandated to collect additional premiums. Therefore, from 2019 to 2025, members should expect gradual increases in the premium payments.
Members should pay the discrepancies starting in November 2019, she added.
If a member missed a payment before November 2019, it would no longer be collected by the agency. Philhealth is open for members to settle any discrepancy on a staggard basis as there are people who struggle with their finances at this time.