06/13/2021 10:26 PM
Clarín.com
Economy
Updated 06/13/2021 10:26 PM
Prepaid medicine companies are
preparing to go to court
for the
lack of adjustment
in the quotas of their plans, according to sources in the sector.
They plan to announce
the judicial presentation
this Tuesday in a
Buenos Aires theater
.
The axis of the demand for prepayments will be due to the breach of law 26,682, which establishes the regulatory framework of the activity, and the
"freezing of fees
.
"
Swiss Medical owner Claudio Belocopitt, entering Casa Rosada.
Photo Federico López Claro.
In addition to the announcement - it would be made at the Plaza Theater, although this Sunday night it was not confirmed - of the judicial presentation, the companies intend to warn that
"the lack of updating of the rates leads to the breakdown of the sector."
The companies argue that they have
very high costs
due to high inflation, and that to make matters worse they were triggered by the Coronavirus pandemic.
They also maintain that they have
high costs in medicines
, salary adjustments, security and services, which they cannot face due to the delay in the value of the fees.
Behind the tariff delay hovers the fear that exists among health providers that Kirchnerism would try
to nationalize the health service.
This ghost also nests between union members of the
CGT
and presidents of union social works.
The fear is based on the movements seen by Christian bishops but also on statements by
Cristina Kirchner herself
, who last year raised the need to reformulate the health system.
"We are going to have to rethink the entire health system
in Argentina to make more efficient use of resources," said the vice president at a ceremony in La Plata in December last year.
His words came shortly after an official decision by the government that
took
prepaid medicine companies
by surprise
.
In November, the Ministry of Health canceled a 15% increase in quotas that it had authorized for December and 10% for February 2021.
Finally, at that time only a 10% increase in fees was authorized.
The reversal in the adjustment was due to
differences
within the ranks of the ruling party itself.
Last April, the Ministry of Health authorized prepaid medicine companies a general increase of up to 4.5% from April 1, and up to 5.5% from May 1, 2021, according to a resolution signed by Minister
Carla Vizzotti
.
But for companies these increases are
insufficient
and are below accumulated inflation and the rise in costs.
The prices of medicines, for example, registered increases higher than the rise in inflation in 2020, according to the first report of the Observatory of prices of health costs of the Argentine Union of Health (UAS).
"The increase in supplies and medicines are imposed by a highly concentrated supply against which there is no possibility of negotiation and go to the detriment of the income of sanatoriums and professional fees," the UAS explained in a statement.
In the case of high-cost products there is a "clear relationship with the variation of the dollar,
an unapproachable value
for most health companies, both funders and providers," said the work of the entity that brings together clinics, sanatoriums , hospitals, diagnostic centers, social works, funders and emergency services.
Medications for hospital use increased an average of 278%, but products such as propofol (used in seriously ill patients with Covid-19) had annual increases of 335%, the report said.
Even acenocoumarol -anticoagulant to prevent cerebrovascular accidents (CVA) in people suffering from arrhythmias-
increased its retail price by 1,397%.
The claim for the delay in the value of the fees not only includes large prepaid medicine companies, such as OSDE and Swiss Medical, but also hospitals such as Italian and German, which have plans for their partners.
In Argentina
around 4 million people are cared for in private medicine companies
(one million are direct affiliates and the rest "corporate").
Paritaria swamped
The claim of the companies coincides with the start of the joint health workers.
Due to lack of resources, the clinics, sanatoriums, diagnostic centers and private hospitals in the Argentine Federation of Health Providers - FAPS - asked the Ministry of Labor to suspend the joint sector that must negotiate the salaries of four collective bargaining agreements. Work that includes more than 200,000 workers.
But the Ministry of Labor replied that it has no way of suspending the joint because it is "an agreement of the parties."
While the parity of the Health sector, key in the management of the pandemic, remains locked, Cristina Kirchner has just granted a 40% increase to the legislative staff, which will reach the diets of the legislators.
Look also
The Ministry of Labor will not suspend the joint Health
Prepaid: the four ways to get a discount in the fee