Question & AnswerQ&A (PRESIDENTIAL DECREE NO. 1519)
The short title is the Revised Philippine Medical Care Act.
The policy is to gradually provide total medical service for the people by adopting a comprehensive and coordinated medical care plan based on comprehensive care, coordination of government and private facilities, and promoting proper inter-relationship among physicians, patients, and hospitals.
The Commission is composed of a Chairman, an Executive Director, the Administrator of the SSS, the General Manager of the GSIS, the Secretary of Health, the Secretary of Finance, the Secretary of Local Governments and Community Development, the President of the Philippine Medical Association, the President of the Philippine Hospital Association, and two private sector members appointed by the President.
To provide medical care to residents of the country in an evolutionary way within economic means and to provide a viable means for people to help pay for adequate medical care.
A beneficiary is any person entitled to medical care benefits under the Revised Philippine Medical Care Act.
Program I provides benefits including hospital room and board allowance, allowances for necessary drugs and laboratory examinations, surgeon's fees, operating room fees, anesthesiologist's fees, medical and dental practitioners' fees, sterilization expenses, outpatient and domiciliary care, subject to reasonable limitations and rules set by the Commission.
All members of the SSS and GSIS and their legal dependents are entitled to medical care benefits under Program I.
They shall be punished by a fine of not less than five hundred pesos nor more than five thousand pesos, or imprisonment of not less than six months nor more than one year, or both, at the court's discretion. Failure to remit within thirty days shall be presumed misappropriation punishable under Article 315 of the Revised Penal Code.
Expenses for cosmetic surgery or treatment, optometric services, psychiatric illness, normal obstetrical delivery, and purely diagnostic services are excluded.
Yes, any beneficiary can freely choose the hospital and medical or dental practitioner for treatment under rules and regulations as promulgated by the Commission.