The Government confirmed this Monday that in the next few days it will formalize the regulation of the megaDNU chapter 70/23 which promotes the deregulation of social works and whose main objective is to guarantee freedom of choice to the beneficiaries of the healthcare system and promote free competition between service providers healthcare facilities run by unions and private medical companies.
Below are the main keys and questions on the functioning of the new system:
What does the deregulation of the social benefits regime promoted by the Government mean?
The initiative was included in megaDNU 70/2023 and Javier Milei’s administration will formalize its regulation this week. Deregulation implies that every worker or beneficiary of the system can freely choose between joining a social service or contracting the services of a prepaid pharmaceutical company.
When will the possibility of freely choosing between social and prepaid services come into force?
The new system will come into force on the first day of the second month following the publication of the rule in the Official Journal since the rule requires an adaptation period for its operation. If the Government formalizes the legislation this week, the free option will come into force from April 1st.
What are the main innovations that deregulation introduces compared to the current system?
On the one hand, it is established that workers will no longer have to spend a year in the social insurance of their business when they enter a new job. With deregulation, beneficiaries will be able to choose a social or prepaid job – registered for this purpose – from the first day of starting a new job and without any type of intermediation. Furthermore, the rule eliminates the obligation to triangulate contributions with a social work for workers who want to have the services of a prepaid one.
How many times a year can you choose between social assistance and prepaid?
The beneficiaries can exercise the right of free choice once a year and at any time from the beginning of the employment relationship. This keeps the current system in place, which only allows the option to be exercised once a year.
What changes for trade union social works?
With the new system, the social works managed by the unions will be obliged to compete on equal terms with the prepaid ones for the affiliation of workers in a relationship of dependency since the obligation for the beneficiary to remain in the union’s social work for a period of one year remains. their activity is eliminated after the start of the employment relationship.
What will change for prepaid cards?
To compete on equal terms with social works, prepaid pharmaceutical companies will be required to pay a contribution to the Solidarity Redistribution Fund (FSR), which finances the functioning of the solidarity healthcare system, equal to 20% of the total contributions paid. they receive. Currently, only social works pay a contribution equal to 15% of the contributions and contributions they collect monthly from employers and workers. Even 10% of the contribution of single tax payers supplements the FSR collection. Currently, prepaid companies contribute to the Fund only a part of the resources deriving from the contributions they receive through the social works that act as “intermediaries”, but not for the entirety of the fees charged.
What will happen to the value of the prepaid installments?
Prepaid companies warn that rates could increase as a result of the obligation to pay 20% of their proceeds to the FSR, since – they claim – they are unable to absorb this additional cost in the face of the complications that the system is experiencing. However, the fact that the money currently retained by the union social works that act as intermediaries becomes “belonging to the taxpayers” could benefit the share they pay.
What will happen to the social works that act as intermediaries and triangulate the contributions?
By allowing direct affiliation to a prepaid card, it is very likely that the smaller social works that must triangulate contributions and therefore retain a “commission” for their intermediation will disappear.
Are prepaid companies forced to compete within the social welfare system?
The proposed regulation stipulates that prepaid companies must register in a special register of health insurance agents (RENA) like social insurance companies, but it has not been revealed whether this registration will be mandatory or optional. Furthermore, it has not been defined whether with the current level of contribution and salary contribution (3% of the worker and 6% of the employer) in the case of workers in a dependent relationship, prepaid companies must provide comprehensive and supportive coverage as happens with social works.
Will the Government be able to place limits on the rates charged by prepaid companies?
The Superintendence of Health Services (SSS), the official body that regulates the functioning of the system, will have no power to set tariff values for services.
Source: Clarin
