According to SSA Administrator Greg Ngirmang, foreigners who have received 2.5 percent deductions in their October paychecks but will be permanently leaving Palau before benefits begin in 2011 may apply for a refund before April 1, 2011.
Refund forms are now available at the SSA office. Those who want to apply for a refund must bring with them original copies of their passport, departure ticket and completed employment clearance provided by the Division of Labor.
“We cannot process any requests if the individual does not have those documents,” Ngirmang said.
He added that for those foreign workers who have received 2.5 percent deductions in their October paychecks, but have already permanently left Palau, they or their employers can contact the SSA office to apply for their refunds.
In a previous interview with Press Secretary Fermin Meriang, he said both the Senate and the House of Delegates have agreed to amend the “National Healthcare Financing Act” which was signed into law on May 7 this year, requiring employees to contribute 2.5 percent of their salary to the Healthcare Fund (HCF) each month.
President Johnson Toribiong proposed to amend said law by reducing the HCF Medical Savings Account contribution of each employee from 2.5 percent to 1.5 percent and moving its implementation to October 11 next year. Meriang said the amendment will be signed by the President this week.
However, until the amendment is signed, deductions for the HCF will continue and will still be 2.5 percent of employee’s salary.
SSA is preparing the third and final set of regulations relating to the HCF program for publication.
“The first two sets are currently available,” SSA said in its press statement. “The first set includes updates to the SSA By-Laws covering collections and contributions. The second set, which is published to receive written comments, cover other key operations. Both sets of regulations are available at SSA’s official website (www.ropssa.org).” The final set of regulations covers only provisions that will go into effect after April 1, 2011.
“This final set consists of regulations that will cover matters solely relating to benefits, such as coverage limitations and exclusions,” Ngirmang explained. “These regulations are in draft form but additional actuarial work was needed before they could be finalized. Once they are finalized, they will be published for comment in coordination with MOH and we expect that to take place before the end of the year.”
