After increases of more than 120% and even more than 190% registered from December to March – in just four months – according to private medical companies, well above inflation, the Minister of Economy, Luis Caputo, once again attacked prepaid companies, which he accused of having “declared war on the middle class “. The mention of the middle class is why Average plans for a couple can range between $250,000 and $400,000 per month and higher values if the rest of the family group is added or in plans with greater coverage.
Even those who contributions were made through a social work and covered the entire prepaid plan, now they have to pay the difference due to the delay in salary compared to the change in the cost of the prepaid plan.
The reality is that the government was taking its “medicine” when it gave prepaid companies the freedom to set membership fees, without any restrictions. Also because the impact of the cost of prepaid medicines is added to the inflation index the price of medicines and medical equipmentUntil then the tariffs were set by Resolutions of the Superintendence of Health Services (SSSalud) with monthly adjustments.
The high values of prepaid monthly dues have led many members to do so will switch to cheaper plans, with narrower coverage and provider card and others directly to unsubscribe. But a high percentage, with many years of experience in the prepaid sector, do not have this option because joining another entity can lead to paying even higher fees due to the premium that the payments imply. possible pre-existing diseases which may not even be covered by the new prepaid card.
Added to all this was the judicialization, because many members went to court challenging the dues increase. And in several places the Department of Justice has questioned the increases, forcing prepaid companies to reduce the value of the installments, contesting the alleged “posterization” of the sector. Some consumer entities may file class action protections.
Until tariff freedom was granted in December, the adjustment of quotas varied depending on Healthcare cost indexprepared by SSSalud for those who have received more than 6 living and moving minimum wages (SMVM) or 90% of the RIPTE (taxable salary of stable workers) for the rest (income less than 6 SMVM).
The healthcare cost index takes into account the incidence of expenses relating to personnel (human resources), drugs, supplies and general expenses.
In exchange, The previous government granted benefits taxes and pensions to healthcare companies in exchange for this mechanism for setting tariff increases. According to decree 478/2023, healthcare companies were exempt from 1 September 2023 to 31 March 2024 inclusive, from the payment of employer contributions received from the Argentine Integrated Pension System (SIPA) – ANSeS.
A special payment plan in nine installments has also been established, with the first deadline being March 2024, for the obligations to pay employer contributions and Value Added Tax (VAT) relating to the tax periods accrued in the months of August, September , October and November 2023. And in relation to the tax on credits and debits on bank accounts and other transactions from 1 September 2023 to 31 March 2024, the reduced rates in force only until 31 December will apply.
Meanwhile, the prepaid drug companies grouped in CIMARA, ADEMP AND CEMPRA, after the declarations of the Minister of Economy, with a statement recognized “that the situation is extremely serious so the companies do not intend to make controversy through the media but, on the contrary , open a working and debate table that allows the government to understand the real situation of the private healthcare system”.
However, the companies argue that rate increases have lagged inflation in recent years and that “prepaid pharmaceutical companies are not price makers. In any case, the impact of the country’s inflation cuts through all our costs, just as it affects every Argentine family.”
On the other hand, through a DNU the government has solved this problem prepaid cards can act as social works, eliminating the intermediation of a related social service when paying mandatory social security contributions or directly recruiting new members. The sector awaits regulation to access this universe of workers. Perhaps this is Minister Caputo’s argument – the expansion of the overall list of prepaid companies – when discussing the increase in tariffs and the coverage that prepaid companies should guarantee to those who are unable to cover at least 9% of their medical plan salary.
Source: Clarin
