OFW Mom’s Guide: How to claim Philhealth maternity benefit if you give birth abroad

Aside from SSS maternity benefit, OFW moms who give birth abroad can also avail of their Philhealth maternity benefit. The main condition is that your latest contribution covers the date of your delivery.
In this article, I write about what to do while you are pregnant and after you give birth to be able to avail of your PhilHealth maternity benefit. This information is solely based on my own experience and may not cover special cases if any.

Contents

Prerequisites

PhilHealth launched a new service called Member Inquiry Facility in March 2015 that allows members to verify their personal information stored in the PhilHealth system and to check member’s contributions. However, if you need to update some information, you need to go to your nearest Philhealth branch.

Things to do while you are pregnant

Pay the annual contribution which is P2,400. This amount is the same for all OFW members. You can make payments at any international remittance centers that accept Philhealth payments. In Singapore, you can do that in Iremit outlet.

Things to do to claim Philhealth maternity benefit after you give birth abroad

You must claim your Philhealth maternity benefit not later than 180 days after delivery.
Submit the following requirements to your nearest Philhealth branch.
Requirements

  • Claim form – you can download this from the PhilHealth website
  • Detailed statement of account – this is your hospital bill
  • Medical Certificate issued by your doctor – since I was not able to get one from my doctor, I submitted the Inpatient Discharge Summary that was one of the SSS requirements. Thankfully, the Philhealth personally accepted it.
  • Philhealth member’s data record (MDR) – you can get it from any Philhealth branch
  • Proof of Contribution – this is the official receipt of your latest contribution

After submitting the documents, you can expect the check to be sent to your home address or the address you provided to PhilHealth up to one month. Upon receiving the check, you can encash it at your bank.
The Philhealth maternity benefit amounts to P5,000 for normal delivery and P19,000 for cesarean section delivery. This amount is the same for all PhilHealth members who are OFW or self-employed.