Health reform would be priceless: letter from ministers criticizing government proposal leaked

In recent days, the differences within the cabinet of the Government national concerning the project health reform presented by the portfolio led by Caroline Liege.

First, it was revealed that members of the Government, known for their technical work: Jose Antonio Ocampo, Alexander Gaviria, Cecilia Lopez and Jorge Ivan Gonzalezpresented a document to the Minister of Health and the President Gustavo Petrowhere they exposed some suggestions and differences with the project, but this was not well received by both, because they assured that the proposal of the four officials would only benefit the private sector, this continues to increase the discrepancies and it is a model based on neoliberalism.

After the news published by the magazine Change and the station On the radiothe president came out to deny it, assuring that: “It is not true. We lasted hours of meetings, for several days, together. Discuss and evaluate in detail the health reform”.

But after the president’s statement on February 26, the Colombian magazine continued to reveal more details, including the document presented by the four members and which is composed of 18 pages.

Moreover, the most marked differences between the vision of the Minister of Health and of President Petro with the members of the cabinet are that: on the one hand, some consider that the system should be mixed, because according to the data of the media the reform would cost on average 90 billion pesos and the State does not have the means to support health expenditure at 100%, added to the fact that the ministers who presented the document consider that the PES and that like other politicians, the ministers and the director of the National Planning Directorate they noted that the bill should have been introduced as statutory law.

“We consider it important to advance the process of territorialization and the establishment of monopolies in certain territories. However, competition must be maintained where conditions permit (for example: in cities),” read one of the fragments of the document, which according to a government source could not be revealed, because during the meeting where finally, he gave his full support to Carolina Corcho warned: “If this document is disclosed, the reform will fall.”

With regard to those of written or ordinary law, the government has relied on the fact that it is a reform of Law 100 of 1993, which is ordinary, so it should not be considered as a transformation of the conception of law as such. However, Ocampo, Gaviria, Lopez and González They pointed out that when a fundamental right was affected, it should have been treated as such and transmitted by law.

“In the opinion of these portfolios, the rule established in Article 28 ignores this mandate and to this extent it could suffer from a flaw of unconstitutionality,” the officials wrote in the document. However, as is known, the difference is that as an ordinary law, there is less debate and less waiting for its approval.

Similarly, with regard to the budget, the Minister maintains that it is more viable for the State to bear all health expenses than for the system to be mixed, since she considers that the current model is not sustainable in the time and that the current debts of the EPS are recoverable to a large extent for what it will bring to the project. However, there is concern because several points are missing from the budget, such as: the abolition of co-payments, the elimination of co-payments, invalidity and maternity and paternity leave and the unification of premiums for contributory and subsidized schemes.