Philhealth Self-Employed contribution: Guide for Filipino freelancers

PhilHealth¹ is the National Health Insurance scheme in the Philippines, and aims to make healthcare affordable and accessible by all members. If you’re a freelancer or self-employed person in the Philippines, you'll need to make a self employed PhilHealth contribution on a monthly, quarterly, semi-annual or annual basis to ensure you have ongoing cover.

This PhilHealth self employed contribution guide looks at how to pay PhilHealth online, and the PhilHealth contribution table for 2024 so you can work out what you owe, and how best to pay. We’ll also touch on Wise, a great way for self-employed individuals to get paid from abroad.

What is PhilHealth?

PhilHealth is the National Health Insurance Program of the Philippines and works to make health care services available for its members. Most people will pay into PhilHealth - either through their employer or as another type of direct contributor.

PhilHealth direct contributors include:

• Employees
• Househelpers or Kasambahays
• Self-employed individuals and professionals
• Overseas Filipino Workers
• Filipinos living abroad and those with dual citizenship
• Lifetime members
• All Filipinos aged 21 years and over who are able to pay

There are also indirect contributors to the scheme including senior citizens, people with disabilities and adult Filipinos who are not able to pay due to their circumstances.

When you’re a PhilHealth member you can access health care services, and also add dependents who do not qualify for their own cover, through paying additional premiums.

Wondering: how much is PhilHealth contribution for self-employed people? Read on as we explore how to compute PhilHealth contributions and how best to pay.

Bear in mind that PhilHealth rates are assessed annually and are likely to change. Payment options can also change from time to time and it’s important to check all the latest details before you make a payment. Failing to pay on time and in full could lead to you losing your coverage. If you’re unsure of what needs to be paid in your particular case, seek professional advice.

Difference between self-employed vs employed PhilHealth contribution

Self employed people and freelance workers must pay PhilHealth contributions through the PhilHealth informal economy workers route. In effect, freelancers and self-employed people are considered to be both the employer and the employee in this scenario - and so you’ll pay your own PhilHealth contributions instead of having your employer make the payment for you.

Informal economy workers in this sense can include²:

• Migrant workers
• Informal economy workers
• Self employed people and freelancers
• Dual citizens
• Naturalised Filippinos
• Foreigners living and working in the Philippines

You might maintain your health coverage once you stop working under certain circumstances, for example for senior citizens who have retired from work. In this case, if you’ve met eligibility requirements, including the number of months you paid into the scheme during your employment, and your age, you may be considered a lifetime member, and continue to get certain benefits.

How to compute PhilHealth contribution for self-employed individuals?

PhilHealth contributions are assessed annually, and shown as a percentage of your monthly taxable income. In 2024, the contribution is 5% of income, with a minimum and maximum payment. This means that the amount you pay is fixed if you earn under 10,000 PHP a month, and there’s a cap to how much you can pay in contributions which starts to apply for workers who are paid 100,000 PHP or more monthly.

Here’s a quick look at an extract from the Self-employed PhilHealth Contribution Table 2024:

PhilHealth contributions are re-assessed annually and can change. In the past few years, the levels have been gradually adjusted upward, to ensure the scheme can continue to offer coverage and support its members properly. Make sure you check the amount you need to pay based on your salary with the most up to date payment levels.

Where to pay PhilHealth contributions for self-employed individuals?

PhilHealth makes it easy to make contributions, with local and international over the counter collection options, and dozens of ways to pay online⁴. Physical payments can be made at many banks in the Philippines - and PhilHealth also works with overseas organisations including banks and remittance services, to allow cash payments from around the world. To give an example, iRemit has branches available in Europe, the Middle East, Canada and in many other countries in Asia, while Bank of Commerce lets you pay in person in Taiwan, the US, Hong Kong and key locations in the Middle East.

Payments can be made monthly, quarterly, semi-annually or annually. The deadlines for payments can change depending on the frequency of payment - for example, for monthly payments you must pay within the month you’re paying for, while annual bills must be settled within the first quarter of the year being covered.

How to check PhilHealth contribution online

To check your PhilHealth account you’ll first need to register. This step may need to be completed in person⁵:

1. Head to your local health insurance office or a PhilHealth Express outlet
2. Complete the Philhealth member registration form - you must complete this in duplicate
3. Submit your completed form and get your Member data Record and your Philhealth ID card

Once you’ve registered you can make your payments using your Philhealth ID number, either online or in person.

How to pay PhilHealth contribution online for freelancers?

If you’re a freelancer or self-employed person paying PhilHealth contributions, you’ll need to calculate the payment level accurately yourself to make sure you’re paying the right amount. This is different to employed people who have the payment deducted at source - which means their employer will do the maths for them.

Once you’ve calculated the amount you need to pay, you can pay online by logging into the PhilHealth portal. Here you'll find more information about your payments as well as many different payment options. Payment options are updated from time to time but can include bank transfers and ways to use popular wallets like GCash to make your contributions easily and quickly.

Your PhilHealth payments must be made in PHP. Getting paid as a freelancer by clients from overseas? Check out Wise for a flexible multi-currency account you can use to receive overseas payments to spend or convert, using the mid-market exchange rate and low fees from 0.33%.

Getting paid from overseas? Receive money from abroad without hidden fees with Wise

If you’re a freelancer or a dependent of an overseas foreign worker, receiving payments has never been easier with the Wise account!

The Wise account lets you receive money for free from abroad, without the need to have bank accounts in multiple countries. You can get your own unique bank account details in 8+ different currencies (including USD, AUD, CAD, EUR, GBP, HUF, NZD, SGD, and TRY) and receive like a local.

After you’ve received the money you can easily move funds from your Wise Account to your local bank account or e-wallet, by converting to PHP at the mid-market exchange rate - like the one you see on Google - and low transparent fees!

Use our handy calculator to see how much you'll actually be getting:

It also comes with the Wise prepaid card, which lets you spend globally in 150+ countries and shop online at the same mid-market rate. Start bringing your money home in a smart way without extra hidden fees with Wise⁶!

Get a Wise account today

1. PhilHealth
2. PhilHealth - Informal economy workers
3. PhilHealth contributions
4. PhilHealth collecting partners
5. PhilHealth registration for freelancers
6. Pricing/fees: Please see Terms of Use for your region or visit Wise Fees & Pricing for the most up to date pricing and fee information