The national government authorized prepaid medicine companies to implement increases in fees of up to 6% in the months of March and April, which will be complementary and cumulative to the increase approved for last January.
The measure was taken through resolution 459/2022 of the Ministry of Health, which was published this Sunday in the Official Gazette.
The decision, which bears the signature of the minister Carla Vizzettiauthorizes “all the Prepaid Medicine Entities registered in the National Registry of Prepaid Medicine Entities (RNEMP) general, complementary and cumulative increases of the one that has been approved for the month of January 2022 through Resolution No. 2125/21 of the Ministry of Health, up to six percent (6%) as of March 1, 2022 and up to six percent (6%) as of April 1, 2022”.
The rule also determines that the authorized increases “may be received once the notification provided for in article 5, subsection g, of Decree No. 1993/11, modified by Decree No. 66/19, has been completed,” which obliges companies in the sector to inform users of the increases that will be registered in the amount of the installments at least 30 days in advance.
The resolution also specifies that the prepaid and health insurance agents “must increase, from the months of March and April 2022, the remuneration values of the medical-assistance benefits provided to their beneficiaries and users by the providers registered in the Registry National Providers of the Superintendence of Health Services, in a percentage similar to the 2021 Peer Review Clause negotiated between the aforementioned providers and the Federation of Argentine Health Workers Associations (FATSA).
In arguing for the measure, the health portfolio maintained that “from the analysis carried out on the evolution of the cost increases in the sector since the date of the last authorized quota increase and especially considering the parity salary agreements reached recently, it follows that it is necessary to promote the authorization of new increases to ensure adequate financing to meet such costs and maintain the quality of services provided.
And “that when observing the variation suffered by health costs in recent years, it is necessary contemplate that the higher costs of the sector and the investment that providers have had to make to face the pandemic and avoid the collapse of the health systemwere also accompanied by a reduction in the rates of use of other usual and/or routine benefits not linked to COVID-19 and postponed based on the health prioritization of this disease, which had an impact, at the same time, on a lower economic income for such benefits for providers”, completed the national portfolio
