The Social Security System (SSS) recently added 30 more days to the five-day notification period for sickness or illnesses of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) that do not require hospitalization. This move was done in consideration of the OFWs’ limited time and accessibility to SSS offices while abroad.
Previously, OFWs had only five calendar days from the start of home confinement to file their sickness notification. Any sickness notifications filed past the prescriptive period could result in reduced amount of sickness benefits. The new 35-day prescriptive period will help OFWs avoid lower benefit amounts or rejected claims due to late notifications.
Under the previous SSS policy, if a sick OFW member, for example, was confined at home from June 1 to 15 and his or her sickness notification was filed only on June 12 or one week after the five-day notification period, the computed sickness benefit would merely cover nine days, from June 7 to 15. With the extended sickness notification period, the OFW will be compensated for the 15 days that he or she was sick, given the same date of filing and assuming the benefit claim was filed on time.
Aside from sickness notifications, the SSS also observes prescriptive periods for filing sickness-benefit claims. For voluntary members, such as OFWs, this prescriptive period is one year from the start of illness for home confinement and one year from date of discharge for illnesses with hospital confinement.
OFWs can file their sickness notifications and benefit claims in person, through a representative, via mail or e-mail at any SSS office in the Philippines or overseas. Sickness-notification and benefit-claim forms may be downloaded from the SSS web site at www.sss.gov.ph.
OFWs are advised to file their sickness notifications and benefit claims on time to ensure that benefits will be paid for each day of sickness.
For additional information, Filipinos overseas can call a toll-free number at 1-800-10-2255-777. They can also reach the SSS OFW contact services unit through e-mail at ofw.relations@sss.gov.ph or via telephone at (632) 364-7796 or (632) 364-7798, from Monday to Friday, 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. Philippine time.
For more details on SSS programs, members can drop by the nearest SSS branch, visit the SSS web site (www.sss.gov.ph), or contact the SSS Call Center at 920-6446 to 55, which accepts calls from 7 a.m. on Mondays all the way to 7 a.m. on Saturdays.
Susie G. Bugante is the vice president for public affairs and special events of the SSS. Send comments about this column to susiebugante.bmirror@gmail.com.
1 comment
Hi. I just want to ask how to file yhe sickness in SSS like affected of covid19. Thanks