How an OFW Can Pay PhilHealth Contribution Online

My plan is to retire in the Philippines. I want to have a home base where I can always go to whenever I wanted to.

With that in mind and after reading the blog post of Vince Rapisura, I decided to find out how an OFW can pay PhilHealth contribution online.

If you’ve been following my blog, you’ll notice that I always prefer to pay online with credit card. With this method, I can accomplish two things:

• Earn points that I can redeem in cash through cashback
• Make sure that the payment is made

You can find out more here  why I decided not to ask favour to family members to pay for my contribution (eg: Pag-IBIG).

How Much to Contribute as an OFW PhilHealth Member

This puzzled me for a long time since I’m an OFW in Canada, I have Alberta Health Care Insurance Plan to cover some medical services.

What about when I’m on vacation in the Philippines and a  medical emergency happens? That’s when I decided to learn more about the benefits of PhilHealth for OFWs.

Now that I’m sold of the idea to continue paying as an OFW, I asked on the Facebook Page of PhilHealth (Philippine Health Insurance Corporation) of how much I can  contribute.

Ang PhilHealth coverage ng OFW po ay nakabatay sa premium contribution. Once na nakapagbayad ng premium ang isang OFW, ito ay valid lamang for 1 year o 2 years depende sa binayarang premium. Kung sakaling natapos na ang validity period, kailangan po ay makapagbayad ng premium upang tuloy-tuloy ang PhilHealth coverage. Maaari kayo magbayad ng P2,400 para sa isang taon.

You can refer to the Premium Contribution Table for more details. The salary bracket determines the benefits and total monthly premium.

I choose to pay Php2,400.00 for one year which is equivalent to Php200.00 per month. My priority is to qualify as a lifetime member.

Individuals aged 60 years and above and have paid at least 120 monthly contributions with PhilHealth and the former Medicare Programs of SSS and GSIS.

In 10 years, I have to continuously pay both the employee and employer share, so for now paying the premium based on my salary bracket is  not a priority.

2 Ways on How an OFW Can Pay the PhilHealth Contribution Online

I came up with the idea of paying online through another blog post on how to send money online to the Philippines.

From the list of online money remittance companies, I found out that iRemit and Transfast allow their client to pay bills. And one of which is Philhealth contribution.

1. iDOL (iRemit Direct Online)

If you are an OFW in Canada, you can pay through iDOL. But you also must have either an RBC or BMO account to fund and pay the transaction fee (C$2.00).

The transaction fee is low but it is higher than paying for Pag-IBIG contribution online. I only pay Php36.00 for Pag-IBIG. Again, convenience comes with a higher price.

For the Filipinos living in the “Great Dominion” here are the steps to follow:

1. Log in or sign up
2. Enter how much money to send in Philippine peso
3. Select your payment and proceed

Note: The transaction fee is deducted to the send amount; check the contribution amount is covered for the specified duration.

Because I’m not a client of either bank, I can’t tell how efficient the service is. I hope someday, iDOL can add more Canadian banks in the choices.

If you choose this method, can you fill us in with details or any feedback.

Let’s try another online money transfer service on which most of us OFWs can avail the service.

2. Transfast

Are we on the same boat? I can’t try iDOL so I gave Transfast a go. I’m writing the steps based on a Canadian perspective so the fees and other information may vary if you are not an OFW in Canada.

1. Log in or Sign up
2. Enter Country & Amount information
3. Enter Recipient & Payout information
   1. Payout Method – Bills Payment
   2. Biller Name – Philhealth
   3. Policy/Subscriber No – MID
   4. Coverage From and To
4. Enter Payment information
   1. Fund Method – Bank Account (C$6.99 fee)

Reminder:

Send Amount – C$50.00 to C$10,000.00
Estimated Delivery – 6 days
Transfer Fee – C$6.99 (constant for any send amount; it is added to the total payable)

Pros and Cons

While I can pay the remittance through Canadian Banks aside from the Big Five (top five), I’m having a hard time estimating how much to pay for the PhilHealth contribution.

The transaction fee is higher than iDOL and TransferWise. You can use TransferWise if you want to send remittance to a person in the Philippines.

Final Thoughts

My conclusion for this task is that for now, it is difficult to pay online the contribution for PhilHealth.

I’ll keep an eye on both money transfer companies for any improvement in service.

I’ll have to resort to other ways like paying through a remittance center in Canada or through PNB account once I receive the account number (a month from now).

How about you? Are you successful in paying the PhilHealth contribution as an OFW?

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