The social works and the prepaid must cover specific treatments against obesity and against eating disorders in general, by including new practices as a result of the advancement of surgical techniques that as of this Friday will be in the Mandatory Medical Program (PMO), reported the Ministry of Health.
Minister Carla Vizzotti approved by resolution the updating and expansion of the set of essential basic benefits for the coverage of the approach to people with obesity that, among other novelties, incorporates people with these disorders into the PMO who were not included in the standard in force since 2008.
“Investing in treatments, promotion and prevention is something that we considered from the first day of the administration and that is why it seemed essential to me to take a space to be able to meet”, said Vizzotti during a meeting with references from scientific societies, public hospitals and patients. .
He further added that “It is not about something aesthetic, but about improving people’s health. For the State it is an investment and anyone who is dedicated to health must act with this health view of strengthen lines of care, expand rights and work so that access is increasingly of higher quality and more equitable”.
The update of the essential basic benefits for people with obesity is given in the framework of Law 26,396which declares the prevention and control of this type of eating disorders to be of national interest.
“Given the progress and modification of surgical techniques and the new evidence that incorporates other practices and treatments aimed at people with obesity and based on what is determined by the evidence, access to coverage was modified, expanding to the population not included with the previous criteria,” said the portfolio.
In addition, to guarantee follow-up and strengthen therapeutic coverage was extended to the postoperative period.
The new benefits that must be provided by all social works and social work associations and companies or entities that provide prepaid medical services, were incorporated into the PMO based on existing scientific evidence and with the consensus of the Argentine Association of Surgery (AAC) and the Argentine Society of Obesity Surgery (SACO).
The secretary of Quality in Health, Alejandro Colliaexpressed that the “law sanctioned in 2008 had to be updated in the context of the advances that have been generated in all these years.”
In that sense, the official added that “the modifications that are being carried out have to do with age, provision, control of multidisciplinary teams, comorbiditiesas regards the post-surgical control and surgical variants, so it is an important advance in a transcendental issue such as Chronic Non-communicable Diseases”.
On behalf of scientific societies, Jorge Harraca, president of the Argentine Society of Obesity Surgery (SACO)expressed that “from the scientific societies we have been the transmitters of the patient’s voice, a voice that is in a fight for more than six years”
“During that time, only the economic sectors of the subsystems, of the payers, had been listened to. But today the ministry listened to us, therefore, it is a day of joy for us,” Harraca assured.
