Given the statements made by the Ministry of Health on the amount of the budget for the sector, different entities such as the Center for Economic Studies Anif, the Andi Health Assurance Chamber and the National Trade Council, have presented their assessments of the current situation.
(How much is lost per year for payment of medical disabilities).
In the first place, the Anif highlights that the resources of the General Budget of the Nation are the key to finance the affiliates of the subsidized regime and the equalization of the benefit plans.
Given the situation, the institution wonders why the Ministry has not taken into account factors related to the increase in the frequency of use in a post-pandemic scenario, among other aspects, to justify the increase in the UPC, and therefore, the resources for the payment of medical care for Colombians and residents in the national territory for 2023. “Not ensuring the sufficiency of this premium would put the health care of millions of people at risk, particularly the most vulnerable (that is, the population with the lowest incomes and the sick), since a timely flow of resources could not be supported to meet the demand for health services. they assure.
The Anif projected a scenario in which out-of-pocket spending would double, due to lack of resources for insurance, which indicated that monetary poverty at the national level could increase by an additional 1.5pp and indigence by 1.1pp. In turn, Mauricio Santa María, president of the institution, assured that “The discussion that is taking place in Congress about the insurance budget takes on greater relevance, since not allocating sufficient resources could mean a setback in this regard, more so now that the country and households are going through the throes of the pandemic” .
(‘The budget for health has not been reduced’: Ministry of Health).
For its part, the National Trade Council assured that it is not advisable to experiment in health matters, since “A reduction in the resources destined to finance health insurance, the General System of Participations and the item of maximum budgets, would subject it to unnecessary risks and, eventually, to crisis situations that would not be the consequence of conceptual errors in its design, but of the lack of budget appropriations essential to meet the unavoidable commitment to the health needs of Colombians in conditions of dignity”.
Carolina Corcho, Minister of Health
Ministry of Health
However, the Andi Health Assurance Chamber He expressed that he rejects the systematic and generalized insinuations in the sense that the EPS divert public resources destined for health, and therefore, propose in relation to the budget, “That the Ministry of Health reevaluate the advisability of not increasing the UPC by 14% but by 12%” plus, “We consider that the sector needs clarity regarding how the 1.3 billion requested for the implementation of the preventive and predictive model compensates for the reduction of the addition of 1.9 billion for insurance”.
(Concerns of the health sector about the Budget).
The Chamber of the Andi, concludes affirming that “The country is facing a new financial and epidemiological reality (…) The accusations from one side and the other do not reflect what is important, which should be the well-being of patients.”
DIANA K. RODRIGUEZ T.
