PhilHealth to Introduce Medical Proxy System for Emergencies

Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) on Monday said it will allow members to designate health proxies who can make medical decisions on their behalf during emergencies through an updated PhilHealth Member Registration Form (PMRF) which it plans to release by the end of September. “Currently, we’re updating our membership, or registration form. In that latest update, we will include the field for declaring a health proxy,” Joseph Anthony D. Lachica, vice-president for the member management group at PhilHealth, said during the second budget hearing of the Department of Health (DoH) before the House Committee on Appropriations. “The internal review is ongoing. So, the (PhilHealth) president’s commitment is by the end of the month,” Mr. Lachica said, referring to the expected release of the updated PMRF. The move follows the Right to Care (RTC) initiative, which allows unmarried or legally unrecognized couples, including LGBTQIA+ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, and asexual) partners, to make critical medical decisions on behalf of each other. The statement came after Akbayan party-list Rep. Percival “Perci” V. Cendaña raised concerns that some hospitals and healthcare service providers do not recognize health proxies of RTC cardholders due to the lack of a memorandum order from the Department of Health (DoH). “We still hear stories of partners whose health proxy is being recognized by one hospital but not by another facility,” Mr. Cendaña said in Filipino during the budget hearing. “In Quezon City alone, there are 800 (residents) who already have a Right to Care card, and many solo parents, overseas Filipino workers (OFWs), and non-traditional families are waiting for their chosen health proxies to be recognized,” he said. DoH Secretary Edwin M. Mercado expressed support for the RTC initiative, noting that PhilHealth is already conducting several related initiatives. Following the launch of Quezon City’s RTC card in 2023, at least 10 local government units (LGUs) across the country have adopted the program. To institutionalize the program nationwide, Senate Bill No. 1985, or the Healthcare Proxy Act, has been filed and was pending second reading and special order as of March 17. It was authored by Ana Theresia “Risa” Hontiveros-Baraquel and co-authored by Rafael “Raffy” T. Tulfo and Lorna Regina “Loren” B. Legarda. — Edg Adrian A. Eva