“Buy life” or die waiting: Chile decides in the plebiscite whether it guarantees the right to health

“If you have money you buy health and if not you die waiting”, says Alejandra Pérez, a breast cancer patient who has fought to guarantee the right to health in Chile in the Magna Carta proposal that will be submitted to the plebiscite this Sunday.

In a country where over 80% of the nearly 20 million inhabitants It is treated in the public health system, diminished by the lack of resources, “getting sick in Chile is economic ruin; in many cases it is death,” Pérez, a member of the convention that drafted the new Constitution, told AFP.

She says it “buy life” in the private system to cure cancer and avoid endless waiting lists and overwhelmed emergencies in public health centers. “If you have money, you have health,” she says.

The healthcare model in Chile was conceived with the current Constitution of 1980, inherited from the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet (1973-1990), which does not guarantee the right to health.

Labor taxes

The Constitution proposal drawn up in one year by 154 electors, popularly elected on a parity basis, recognizes that “Everyone has the right to complete health and well-beingincluding its physical and mental dimensions “.

More than 15 million people are called to speak out this Sunday on the new Magna Carta. The “reject” option drives all surveys, with support up to 56%.

The current Chilean health system, which is divided between public and private assistance, is financed through the Compulsory contribution of 7% of the worker’s salary.

he decides it pours it into the public system (Fona Sanità Nazionale, Fonasa), which also welcomes those who do not contribute resources, or into the private system (Institutions of Forecasting Health, Isapres).

Go to the private system only about 16% of the populationeven if it receives more income through the contribution than the public system.

Establishes the Magna Carta proposal a “universal, public and integrated” healthcare model.with which you contribute to a unified system and you can opt for complementary private insurance.

The goal is to prevent “finally (only) those who have money in their pockets can pay for treatment,” Dr. Francisca Crispi, president of Santiago Medical College (Colmed), told AFP.

The possibility of choosing the destination of the health contribution currently translates into a lack of resources to finance the public system, which covers most of its budget with state funds. Only 21% comes from workers.

The critics

“More people are served in the public sector, but less money comes in. More money goes into the private sector and fewer people are followed, so there is better attention, “says Pérez.

In public hospitals, emergency rooms are daily overcrowded with waiting times exceeding six hours and for some treatments or operations waiting lists exceed 500 days.

“We have a lot to improve and strengthen in managing the public system to optimize capacity,” said Crispi, noting that public operating theaters are often closed at 1pm.

In the Isapres Association, which brings together the six private insurance companies existing in Chile, the proposals to amend the new Constitution are concerned.

They do not consider that the integrated model “will be progress” because “will overload the public system”Gonzalo Simón, president of the Isapres Association, told AFP.

“If this new Constitution comes into force and this new system is put into practice, the choice is lost and all people have to forcefully switch to the public option, “he said.

But in the Colmed de Santiago I disagree.

“That freedom of choice is partial and it is for very few. It is for the percentage that private insurance companies can pay “says Crispi.

Pérez is confident that with the new text, patients in Chile will be able to get health care without losing their homes or getting into debt for 20 years.

“Strengthening public health comes firstthat there are sufficient resources to be able to strengthen it and that tomorrow we can choose whether we want to assist each other in the public or private sector, “he argues.

AFP agency

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