LEGAZPI CITY --- Individually Paying Members (IPMs) of the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) are reminded that deadline of premium payment for the first quarter of 2008 is on March 31, the last working day of the quarter.

        IPMs may pay their premiums at any PhilHealth office regionwide or at the nearest PhilHealth-accredited bank or post office.

        Those who will remit payments at the bank or post office are advised to fill up the M1-5 form. Once payment is done, they should make sure that the copy of said payment form has been machine-validated.

        The accredited banks to which payments may be made are: Land Bank, Veterans Bank, PNB, UCPB, Allied Bank, Union Bank, Postal Bank, Bank of Commerce, and DBP.

        IPMs are also reminded not to skip quarterly payments to avoid suspension of benefit availment.

        For maternity cases, cataract extraction, and certain operations, members have to make at least three quarterly payments within a year prior to the month of availment in order to avail of benefits.

        Retroactive payments are not allowed. A grace period for payment is permitted though — that is, one month immediately after the missed quarter. However, the grace period for missed quarterly payment is only allowed once a year.

        For more inquiries on your PhilHealth contributions, please call (052) 435-4375