Simple online payment methods for PHIC contributions in the Philippines

PhilHealth no longer receives manual payment in their branches despite presenting the Certificate of Exemption (COE) from online payment to the cashier. PhilHealth recommends using the online payment facilities available in the Electronic Premium Remittance System (EPRS) portal. MyEG Philippines, Inc., effective October 14, 2022, a PhilHealth-accredited collecting agent for PhilHealth premium contributions, is now accepting online payments through the well-known e-Wallet giants, GCASH and Maya. Employers can also pay the contribution through a debit or credit card. 

With this, the collecting agent no longer spends long hours in the queue. Individuals or companies can quickly and easily pay for a PhilHealth contribution online at any time using a smartphone or computer that is connected to the internet, and transactions will be done in no time with just a few clicks. There is no need to be a techie to perform the transaction, as the process is simple and the instructions are easy to understand. 

Save yourself the hassle of going to the PhilHealth office. This service allows you to pay your contributions whenever and wherever you want, using e-wallets (GCash and Maya) or credit or debit cards. 

Privacy and protection are of the utmost priority. PhilHealth follows the International Payment Gateway Standards that have been tried and tested in the Philippines and Malaysia. The system has an additional layer of protection to ensure that transactions and payment data are encrypted and secured. 

Below are the simple steps for paying the PHIC contribution through Gcash, Maya, or a debit or credit card: 

First, log in to the EPRS portal.

Next, prepare the remittance list of employees. Make sure to post the correct basic pay to report the correct contribution based on what has been reported in the payroll register.

After preparing the remittance list, you can now proceed with posting for payment by selecting the online payment option using MyEG. 

You will only be able to pay for premium contributions using a GCash or Maya wallet via the PhilHealth website. Premium payments are acknowledged in real-time and will be immediately posted to your account. 

A convenience fee is added based on your selected payment channel. Mastercard, Visa, JCB, and credit or debit cards that are issued in the Philippines can be used to pay for PhilHealth premium contributions. 

This online payment facility will serve employers more conveniently by allowing them to pay the PhilHealth contributions on time and in real-time. This will help employers avoid delays in settling the remittances and bearing the cost of any fines and interest. PhilHealth also aims to utilize these online payment facilities to avoid cash payments in the branch, lessen transactions in the payment section, and accommodate other transactions for more productive services to their clients. 

There are plenty of ways for government agencies in the Philippines to digitize their collection processes. In fact, eGOV is one of the solutions every employer has been looking for for a very long time. Through eGOV, any employer can do the filing and payment of PhilHealth, Pag-IBIG, and SSS monthly contributions and loans online, conveniently, and without the hassle of going to the branch offices.

An employer needs only an internet connection and uses either Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, or Google Chrome as web browsers to access eGOV. eGOV’s availability to private employers is very timely and aligned with the government’s drive to foster electronic payments as well as PhilHealth’s policy on the use of electronic payment partners like BancNet.

Manual payments have been around since the beginning of time. The physical transaction—taking goods or services in terms of monetary exchange—is how humans have processed it over centuries. This procedure may be termed outdated or too conventional in the current world. Online payment has altered the norms of manual payment transactions over the years. Most employers that are informed about the use of eGOV prefer to use it. To encourage other employers to switch from manual to online, below are the advantages:

1. Increase convenience and save work time.

Online payments can increase convenience for the staff because they will save them time by eliminating the travel period to the agencies and waiting time, which will affect their workloads. Instead of waiting for long hours in the agency, staff can work on their other deliverables and increase their productivity.

2. Decrease stress and increase work productivity.

The inherent automation of online payment processing is music to the staff’s ears. With the right technology, staff can cut out manual calculations and routing of paperwork, and your staff can breathe a little easier. Less paperwork on your team’s desk means more time for other exciting projects.

Processing online payments can also help minimize the stressful communication that occurs with bounced checks. Online payments allow the department to conduct pre-authorization, which means you can make sure the funds are available and then process them once approved, increasing the productivity of the staff and reducing stress on the manual payment process.

3. Grow the department’s bottom line.

Accepting checks and fund transfers at your department can actually be more costly than the fee collected. Between bank runs, reconciliation issues, and ancillary fees, there is plenty of data to support the inefficiencies of departments collecting checks and funds for payments. Conversely, by switching to online payment processing, you can not only cut out the cost of processing checks but also have the opportunity to increase revenue.

4. Put the safety of staff first.

The global COVID-19 pandemic has opened our eyes to unexpected business disruptions. Once COVID-19 began infiltrating the globe, many businesses were forced to make drastic changes to the way they operated. Many of the abrupt changes were centered around the recommendation to ‘shelter in place’ and perform ‘social distancing’.

These instances meant that businesses needed to find ways to continue operating while limiting the number of face-to-face interactions they had with clients. Subtle changes, like bringing payments online, are a great way to decrease the number of staff waiting in banks or branch offices and limit the number of over-the-counter transactions staff handle. While the long-term effects of COVID-19 on the business world are uncertain, it is clear that a digital payment process could benefit the company in a positive way. Hopefully, the advantages of eGov in paying government remittances electronically will encourage employers to switch from manual to online payments to save costs, increase convenience, embrace digitization, and help employees experience smooth and reliable transactions through eGov.