A bill seeks to institutionalize a nationwide “Right to Care” card system that would allow patients to designate who can make medical decisions for them during emergencies.
House Bill No. 7068, or the “Right to Care Act,” filed by Mamamayang Liberal Party-list Rep. Leila de Lima, adopts key provisions of Quezon City’s Right to Care ordinance and seeks to implement a uniform system nationwide by integrating health-care proxy information into Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) records and a DOH-maintained Right to Care registry.
Under the bill, individuals may designate a “health care agent” through a health care proxy that will be reflected on their PhilHealth identification card and recorded in the registry, authorizing the agent to receive medical information and make treatment decisions if the patient becomes incapacitated.
De Lima said the bill responds to gaps in existing laws that exclude many Filipinos from critical medical decision-making involving their loved ones, especially solo parents, people in nonmarital or same-sex relationships, and those from nontraditional households.
“The current state of Philippine law effectively alienates many adult Filipinos who often face discrimination and unfair treatment in health care settings and are denied access to information and decision-making processes involving the health care of their loved ones, despite shared lives and mutual caregiving responsibilities,” she said in her explanatory note.
She added that the measure seeks to “guarantee equal protection under the law, promote inclusive and compassionate health services, and address health disparities rooted in social stigma and discrimination,” particularly against individuals of diverse sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, and sex characteristics (SOGIESC).
The bill mandates the State to recognize a duly designated health-care agent as a legally authorized representative of the patient for purposes of medical decision-making during periods of incapacity.
The measure also includes an immunity provision protecting doctors and other health-care practitioners from liability when they act in good faith in honoring the decisions of designated health-care agents.
Similar measures have been filed in the current Congress by Sen. Risa Hontiveros and by Reps. Percival Cendaña, Jose Manuel “Chel” Diokno, Dadah Kiram Ismula, Arlene “Kaka” Bag-ao, and Javier Miguel Benitez.
Quezon City launched its own Right to Care card program in June 2023, which allows residents, including same-sex couples and partners in nontraditional relationships, to execute special powers of attorney designating each other as health-care decision-makers.
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