Company deducted Maxicare from his salary but he never received any card

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Today, I have received a call from my uncle asking for advice. Apparently, his company had deducted from his payslip a portion alloted for Maxicare. This happened in December 2013. He was never regularized nor was he given a Maxicare card.  He now no longer works for that company and he wants his money back.

First, let's start that the issuance of Maxicare cards is dependent on the company policy. The company policy may either be the date of regularization, date of hire or standard cut offs. This company policy must be made known by the company to Maxicare prior to entering into an agreement so that Maxicare can execute those enrollment guidelines once the contract has started. The contract between Maxicare and the company will stipulate the company policy of issuing cards. The timing of the issuance of Maxicare cards is not Maxicare's policy but the company's policy and that Maxicare is just there to execute.

After initial verification, my uncle was never enrolled in Maxicare, which means 1) his name was never submitted for enrollment or 2) his name was submitted but never processed by Maxicare. Granting that the former is correct, the company may have charged him in advance. He must file for a claim from his former employer and not Maxicare.

Collections between Maxicare and a company is not done individually. The contract is between the company and Maxicare and not between the member and Maxicare. A lump sum cheque is issued by the company to Maxicare. The manner as to how this lump sum amount was derived is internal to the company, whether this was paid for by the company in full or the employees had a portion of the share. Any deductions from your payroll or receivables from your last pay must be settled internally.

6 month probationary period dilemma

This came from Megan….

I'm about to resign in my current employer and about to hop on my next company to work for come next month. My problem is, they don't provide HMO plan until you get regularized, which I think after 6 months.
That is the standard practice in most companies. They offer you the HMO benefit as an incentive or added bonus when you get regularized. For some companies, they do not even offer a salary increase and only offer the newly regularized employee some incentives like the HMO, rice allowances etc. You cannot do anything about this. You can perhaps negotiate this with your employer especially if you are on the managerial level and ask them if they can give you the HMO benefit on your first day. The HMO cannot do anything about this since this is a prerogative of the company. The HMO is just a supplier.

I'm now contemplating as to whether temporarily avail an HMO plan for myself and my parents (51 and 57 years old, who can be my dependents) or not. But, I know that you really can never tell that during my probationary period, which would run for 6 months long to be regularized, I or should I say we, would encounter sickness.
That’s true. No one can tell. So it’s better that you are prepared and cautious. Would you know if your company covers dependents? This is not automatic. Having dependents is not automatic once you have an HMO card. The company pays the HMO company the total headcount including the dependents. Again, the HMO is just a supplier and executes what your company has designed for its healthcare program. If they allow dependents, do they allow single employees to have dependents? Double check. They just might be allowing married employees only. If yes, how many dependents are they allowing.

My questions are:

1.) How would I pay for such plan? Is it gonna be over-the-counter thing?
I am not sure about the practice for other HMOs but for Maxicare, you can pay your dues at any branch of BDO (in cash) or at the head office either cash or credit card.

2.) I browsed some *top HMO providers websites, but cannot seem to grasp everything. How much ba talaga ito every month? Or every year ang payment?
I am not sure if other HMOs have a monthly mode of payment. For Maxicare, it’s at least quaterly. The rates are based according to the choice of plan, age bracket and mode of payment. Check out http://maxicareinquiry.blogspot.com for more info

4.) Like how much is the range kung monthly? or kung yearly? Halos pare-pareho lang naman ata sila, give me a sample range pls. (pero sana monthly)
The rates are based according to the choice of plan, age bracket and mode of payment. Check out http://maxicareinquiry.blogspot.com for more info

3.) What's the most affordable HMO provider to apply for, yet ok ang coverage?
I am not sure about the rates for other HMOs. Check out http://maxicareinquiry.blogspot.com for rates for individual and family plans.

4.) After 6 months, I’ll then be entitled for an HMO corporate account under my company, would I be able to terminate my HMO individual account then?
For Maxicare yes you can if you choose the semi annual or quarterly mode of payment. Just don’t pay your bill and your coverage is automatically terminated.

If you need more clarifications on Maxicare’s Quarterly and Semi Annual rates especially for those in the probationary period, you may call Tel (02) 6228892 Mobile 0917 804 6275 Email: maxicareinquiry@gmail.com Yahoo Messenger: slime_ateneo or leave a comment here

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