The Government made official this Wednesday the
deregulation of the social work system
, a measure with which it seeks to allow workers to
freely choose the services of the providers
managed by the unions or the prepaid companies.
The measure was ratified with the publication of
decree 170/202
4, which bears the signature of
Javier Milei
, in addition to that of the Chief of Staff, Nicolás Posse;
and the Minister of Health, Mario Antonio Russo.
As article 5 clarifies, “the decree will begin to take effect on the first day of the month following” that of its appearance in the Official Gazette.
“The right to free choice may be exercised by the affiliates of the Health Insurance Agents included in article 1 of Law No. 23,660, among any of the entities included in said rule, with the exception provided for in the article 9 hereof”, establishes the modification of article 1.
Article 2, meanwhile, indicates that “the aforementioned right to free choice may be exercised for the period and in accordance with the procedure determined by the Enforcement Authority - in the terms of article 14 hereof - and will become effective upon from the first day of the month following the formalization of the request.”
“The minimum period of permanence will not be applicable for those beneficiaries who, being affiliated with a Health Insurance Agent, have chosen a Prepaid Medicine Entity as the provider of their medical coverage and it is registered in the Registries established in the subsection. b) of article 5 of Law No. 26,682 and in article 6 of Law No. 23,660.
In the latter case, they may exercise the right to free choice towards that same Prepaid Medicine Entity,” that section clarifies.
The keys to the deregulation of social and prepaid works
The following are the main keys and questions about the operation of the new system:
What are the main changes that deregulation introduces with respect to the current system?
Workers
will no longer have to spend a year in the social insurance of their activity
when entering a new job.
They will be able to choose a social or prepaid work - which is registered for this purpose - from the first day of starting a new job and without any type of intermediation.
In addition, the obligation to triangulate contributions with a social work for workers who want to have the services of a prepaid plan is eliminated.
How many times per year can the option between a social work and a prepaid one be made?
The right of free choice may be exercised
once a year and at any time
from the beginning of the employment relationship.
This maintains the current system in force, which allows the option to be carried out only once a year.
What changes for union social works?
With the new system, the social works administered by the unions will be
obliged to compete on equal terms with the prepaid ones
for the affiliation of workers in a dependency relationship.
What will change for prepaid?
In order to compete on an equal basis with social works, prepaid medicine companies will be
required to make a contribution to the Solidarity Redistribution Fund (FSR)
, which finances the operation of the solidarity health system, equivalent to 20% of the total fees that they receive.
What will happen to the value of the prepaid installments?
The prepaid companies warn that
the fees could increase
since - they claim - they are not in a position to absorb this additional cost in the face of the complications that the system is going through.
What will happen to the social works that act as intermediaries and triangulate contributions?
By allowing direct affiliation to a prepaid, it is most likely that the smaller social works that have to triangulate contributions and therefore retain a "commission" for their intermediation will disappear.
Will the Government be able to set limits on the fees charged by prepaid companies?
The Superintendency of Health Services (SSS), the official body that regulates the operation of the system, will not have any power to set the fee values for the services.
IS