PhilHealth membership form to allow designation for health proxies

Charmaine Delos Santos

The Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth) will open its membership forms to health proxies for immediate healthcare access, even in non-traditional cases, by the end of September, as issued in a statement last Monday.

The new membership form will allow solo parents, Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs), and LGBTQIA+ community members to make medical decisions on behalf of the member if they are unable to, according to Dr. Joseph Anthony Lachica, PhilHealth Vice President for Member Management Group.

Akbayan Party-list Representative Percival “Perci” Cendaña discussed the Right-to-Care card program, which started in Quezon City in 2023 using the Special Power of Attorney (SPA) noted in the House hearing.

The program was eventually implemented in other parts of the Philippines, such as Parañaque City, San Juan City, Cavite, Laguna, Cebu, and Iloilo City.

Rep. Cendaña expressed that “isa po sa sinasabi nilang problema most of the time, hospitals and health service providers do not recognize the health proxies or even SPA due to the lack of DOH [Department of Health] memorandum recognizing it,” during the interpellation on the next year’s budget for the health department.

While the Right-to-Care is being implemented in multiple places, it still lacks legal implementation on a national basis, causing some rejections of health proxies, such as queer couples, solo parents, and non-traditional families.

With the budget under the 2027 National Expenditure Program at ₱9.7 billion, Health Sec. Edwin Mercado announced plans to release a new DOH memorandum which includes health proxies this year while also adhering to PhilHealth integrated policies.