GSIS pays P52 B claims, benefits for 9 mos. of 2013

By Marge Jorillo 

The Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) disbursed P52 billion in  claims and benefits to its members and pensioners as of September 2013, a 31% increase over the Php40 billion disbursed in the same period in 2012.  

These benefits cover life insurance, retirement, pension, survivorship, disability, and funeral.  Of the total amount, the combined pension and retirement claims account for 80%, at Php22.3 billion and Php18.5 billion, respectively.

GSIS president and general manager Robert Vergara attributed the increased release of benefits to the implementation of agencies’ rationalization programs across the bureaucracy.

For the first 10 months of the year, GSIS processed a total of 34,402 retirement claims with a gross amount of P24.8 billion.

He said another reason for the rise in the pay-outs is “that GSIS has become more efficient in resolving the pending requests of our members and pensioners, some of which date as far back as 2010.”

            

The backlog in pending transactions which reached 240,000 as of last year declined fourfold to about 60,000 pending transactions as of October 2013.

            

The pension fund chief said that the continuing reconciliation of agencies’ accounts to address disparities in the records of members, also contributed to the “greater efficiency in the processing of claims and benefits.”

            

GSIS also enlists the cooperation of suspended agencies to settle their outstanding premium obligations by signing a memorandum of agreement with the pension fund. 

            

As of September this year, 144 suspended agencies have signed agreements with GSIS and updated their accounts, which enabled close to 800,000 employees of these agencies, to exercise once again, their loan and dividend privileges.

            

A total of 86 agencies already paid 90% of their premium obligations which restored the loan and dividend privileges of their employees.

            

The collection efficiency for premium contributions also improved to 96% for the first semester of 2013 from 89% in 2010.