06/15/2021 5:45 PM
Clarín.com
Economy
Updated 06/15/2021 9:25 PM
"If someone decides to take over the private healthcare system, they should first defund it, put it to the limit of its operational capacity, put it on its knees and keep it that way until it collapses and its capacity for care is deficient. out of millions of Argentines,
the perfect excuse that they should be nationalized
under the assumption that the system is not in a position to provide health responses
would be presented as a story
. "
With a confrontational tone and without turning, the head of the Argentine Health Union (UAS),
Claudio Belocopitt,
accused the national government of seeking that prepaid medicine companies
are left without financial capacity
to, in the next line, advance with the nationalization of the system . The businessman announced that on Wednesday the medical companies will make a presentation before the Justice in which they will demand that they be authorized to apply increases within the framework of
26,682
, sanctioned during the first government of Cristina Kirchner and which is the one that regulates the activity.
Precisely, the current vice president had referred, a day before, to the need to change the health system of Argentina as a whole.
As she had done in December of last year, and in the same geography (the city of La Plata), on Monday Cristina Kirchner proposed
"to go to an integrated system between the three subsystems: public, social works and private or prepaid."
Prepaid medicine companies gave a press conference on Tuesday, in which they denounced the serious situation that the private health system is going through in Argentina.
They anticipated that tomorrow they will present
an urgent precautionary measure
before the courts for the delay of the quotas that already exceeds 35%.
"
Health has no price but it does have a cost.
And even more in the middle of a pandemic," said Belocopitt, at the opening of the conference.
His colleague
Hugo Magonzi,
head of the Civil Association of Integrated Medical Activities (ACAMI), pointed out that since the law that regulates prepaid medicine is in force (2012) as of December 31, the successive governments authorized, during those almost nine years, increases in quotas that accumulated
1,054%.
"In that same period, the accumulated cost of living was
1,450%
, the cost of health increased
1,950%
and the cost of medicines increased
3,000%,
" added the businessman.
Luis María Degrossi
, vice of the UAS, assured that companies are not claiming a subsidy from the Government, as in the case of public service providers.
"We have been working for 70 years and we went through the past year above expectations. We do not want subsidies, but law 26,682 is applied as it is established," he said.
"Last year, draft decree circulated on
an eventual government plan to nationalize the system
. These versions began to circulate again at the beginning of this year," said Belocopitt, owner of the sanatorium conglomerate Swiss Medical.
"President Alberto Fernández
denied this
and asked us for a few weeks to respond to the underlying problem. The solutions never appeared," he said.
"The government's own technical reports show that
the backlog is gigantic.
At the same time, since Congress, more benefits are being incorporated into the Mandatory Medical Program, without mentioning the sources of financing," said Belocopitt.
In his speech, Belocopitt referred at length to the fear that the state advance over private companies will take place.
"The nationalization of the system can occur in fact or in law. In the latter case, it is done with a project,
as happened with the AFJPs," he
recalled.
"But if someone decided to take the operating system in fact, they
should first defund it
, so that on the rubble the perfect excuse that it should be nationalized because it is not in a position to provide answers to the sick is exposed as a story."
"It's like forcing them to take off without fuel, for the planes to crash and then saying that
the pilots were not up to the task,
" he exemplified.
"Under these circumstances,
the system is not in a position to continue operating
. We will appear in court tomorrow to request an urgent precautionary measure that will allow us to continue operating," he said.
And he asked that they be summoned to Congress to explain the situation that has "a suicidal gravity in the middle of the pandemic."
"We tell the government that if it wants to change the system, raise it with the people," Belocopitt said.
"It is good for a debate to be debated and a path to be defined.
What cannot be is to be in the middle,
how we are now," the executive said in response to press inquiries.
Parity expired
"Part of our sector has
expired parities
while others get increases of more than 40%. There are always those who pretend to be distracted, stupid or cowardly. The bragging is over," said the businessman.
"What is collected is
not enough to cover benefits
. This is very serious."
The presentation was in charge of the Argentine Health Union (UAS), a confederation that brings together most of the private medicine organizations.
In the last hours they had anticipated that they will appear in Justice for
the lack of adjustment of their quotas.
The lawsuit is aimed at non-compliance with Law 26,682, which establishes the regulatory framework for the activity, and the "
freezing of quotas."
"The precautionary measure is intended to
allow compliance with the law,
" said the businessmen, in relation to the fact that they will request that they be authorized to increase the quotas.
Last year the Government canceled the increases that it had already allowed for November (15%) and February (10%).
And for this year I only authorize
an increase of 4.5% for April and another 5.5% for May
, against a cumulative inflation of 22% in that period.
At the conference they pointed out that last year ended with a delay in updating the quotas of 27%, to which
another 12%
is added
so far in 2021.
In the last hours Cristina Kirchner redoubled her request to reform the health system.
Yesterday, in an appearance in La Plata, together with Axel Kicillof, the vice president demanded "to
go to an integrated system
between the three subsystems: public, social works and private or prepaid".
AQ
Look also
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Health Reform: the ideas that the Instituto Patria is considering
