CORPORATE & COMMERCIAL
NATIONAL SOCIAL SECURITY FUND
AMENDMENTS TO THE PROVISIONS REGARDING HEALTH CARE BENEFITS AND ENFORCEMENT OF LEGAL MEASURES ON LATE PAYMENTS TO THE NATIONAL SOCIAL SECURITY FUND, Prakas 184 on Amendments to Articles 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 and 10 of Prakas 109 dated 17 March 2016 (“Prakas 109”) of the National Social Security Fund (“NSSF”), dated 25 April 2018 (“Prakas 184”) and Notification 26/18 on the Enforcement of Existing Provisions on Enterprises that are Late in Payment and Submission of Employee Reports to the NSSF, dated 30 April 2018 (“Notification 26/18”).
Prakas 184 amends six articles (including Articles 2, 4, 5, 6, 8 and 10) of Prakas 109 in relation to health care benefits provided by the NSSF. Article 2 of Prakas 184 adds more definitions to the terms used in both Prakas. Those include the definitions of “child delivery”, “daily wage”, “self-treatment”, “contact lens”, “essential drugs” and “representative of the victim or patient”. For instance, “child delivery” is defined under Prakas 184 as the delivery of a child from 26 weeks’ old at a local healthcare facility. Under Article 4 of Prakas 184, “general health check” is not included in medical care services. In relation to the treatment of chronic diseases, Article 5 of Prakas 184 clarifies that the patients themselves must pay for medicines (not the NSSF) that are not included in the list of essential medicines as determined by the Ministry of Health, except medicines for diabetes and hypertension. The treatment of cancer by chemotherapy will need to be paid by the patient in accordance with each treatment.
Article 6 of Prakas 184 adds a new condition that in order to receive medical care services under the NSSF scheme, an employee must have an NSSF membership card. Article 7 of Prakas 184 revises the period (i.e. 180 days in any 12 months period) that an employee is entitled to treatment free-of-charge at the local health facility that has entered into an agreement with the NSSF for the inpatient period only, but not the outpatient period. Article 7 of Prakas 184 also deletes a clause in relation to wages that need to be paid by the employer when an employee is absent due to receiving health treatment for up to seven days. This deletion makes it unclear as to whether sick leave for up to seven days will still need to be paid by the employer. In addition, this Article 7 sets a limit that 70% of average daily wages will be provided to the employee only for up to 180 days in the latest 12 months. Article 8 of Prakas 184 clarifies the wording in relation to the calculation of average wages in relation to health care benefits, while Article 10 of Prakas 184 clarifies the procedures on how to claim health care benefits and daily wages.
In addition to the above, the NSSF issued Notification 26/18 to alert all enterprises that from 1 May 2018, the NSSF will strictly enforce its existing legal provisions on enterprises that are late in their payments of monthly contribution fees and the submission of employee reports to the NSSF. The payment of monthly contribution fees to the NSSF must be performed by the 15th of the following month and the employee reports must be submitted to the NSSF by the 20th of the following month.
The information provided is for information purposes only and is not intended to constitute legal advice. Legal advice should be obtained from qualified legal counsel for all specific situation.
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