PhilHealth urges parents to enroll 21-year-old kids

The Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) advises parents to enroll their 21-year-old children to their office even if they are not yet employed.

Children 21 years or older no longer qualify as dependents.

They should enroll as principal members before reaching 21 years old to continue availing of PhilHealth benefits.

PhilHealth grants exception to children with disability who are completely dependent on the parent for support.

A medical certificate, issued within the last six months, describing the extent of the disability will be required.

Children who have gained employment are disqualified from being dependents of parents even if they are still below 21 years old. As employees, their employers are mandated by law to register them with PhilHealth and to cover half of their monthly premium—the other half will be deducted from the employee’s basic monthly salary.

Also, married children are disqualified from being dependents.

To register, the applicant must fill out the PhilHealth Member Registration Form and submit this to the nearest PhilHealth office together with payment for the current quarter.

As individually paying members, their premium rate is set at P600 per quarter for those with an average monthly income of P25,000 and below.

Those with higher income pay a premium of P900 per quarter.

PhilHealth Express in malls process applications for registration—Ayala Center Cebu (Monday-Friday, 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.), SM City Cebu (Monday-Sunday, 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.), Robinsons-Fuente (Monday-Sunday, 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.), J Centre Mall (Tuesday-Saturday, 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.) and Pacific Mall (Monday-Friday, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.).

PhilHealth Express is also available in Negros Oriental and Bohol—Robinsons Place-Dumaguete City (Monday-Sunday, 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.) and Island City Mall-Tagbilaran City (Tuesday-Saturday, 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.).