Carolina Corcho’s controversial health reform is facing further setbacks. SEMANA has learned that Minister Corcho informed political parties that she will not make any changes to the reform. As a result, members of the Seventh Committee who were considering voting in favor of the articles might now vote against the initiative.
Ever since the reform was presented, which seeks to end the EPS and eliminate the insurance role in which the system was founded, there have been numerous criticisms and warnings. The government, with the reform almost politically sunk and Alejandro Gaviria out of the cabinet for declaring himself against the initiative, began talks with political parties to try to save it.
On Wednesday afternoon, a heavyweight rebelled and announced that he would present a statutory reform for liberalism. In a statement, former President Gaviria criticized the nationalization that the minister’s reform seeks and pointed out that substantial improvements could be made to the current system.
Legal experts believe that a health reform touching so many fundamental rights should be a statutory law. Many anticipate that even if the reform is approved, it will fall before the Constitutional Court.
The debate on the health reform, which was filed by the government a few weeks ago, has been postponed until the third week of April. Political parties, including the Centro Democrático and Cambio Radical, which opposed the reform, have already filed their presentation reports.
In summary, the future of the health reform proposal remains uncertain as it faces opposition from various quarters, despite efforts by the government to save it.
Carolina Corcho’s ambitious and controversial health reform is faltering again. SEMANA learned that Minister Carolina Corcho has already let the political parties know that she is not going to include any changes in the reform. For this reason, members of the Seventh Committee who had thought to vote in favor of the articles, could now vote negatively for this initiative.
Since the reform, which seeks to end the EPS and eliminate the insurance role on which the system was founded, was first presented, numerous criticisms and warnings have surfaced. This led the government, already with the reform almost sunk politically and with Alejandro Gaviria out of the cabinet for having declared himself against the initiative, began to talk with the political parties to try to save it.
But on Wednesday afternoon a heavyweight also rebelled and assured that he would present a statutory reform for liberalism. In a statement, former President Gaviria said: “The minister has made a characterization of the system that is completely unrelated to reality. The origin and quality of certain analyzes and data that you have provided are unknown and your comparisons are quite convoluted. Except for the significant resources to invest in prevention, for which we do not know any figures from the Ministry of Finance, there is little that they offer us in their proposals”.
In the text, the former president criticized the nationalization that the minister’s reform seeks, which does not take into account the complexity of the system.
“Yes, more resources can and should be accepted for the most remote and remote regions, but it is unreasonable to think that the system can be nationalized in two or three years, especially when the Government barely understands the complexity of what was built in 30 years and refuses to understand its most complex feature, which is health risk management. The minister considers that the Colombian State can easily assume the collapse of the system and the decision of a completely public health system in its essence”, Gaviria argued, continuing the criticism of Corcho.
In the document, the former president recalled the reason why the Liberal Party decided to get up from the negotiating table, which it shared with the Conservative and La U parties. “When the government returned for the third time, with texts the same as the originals, without any allusion to the agreements with our experts,” he recalled.
According to Gaviria, the discussion seemed “useless” due to the government’s unwillingness to accept the texts agreed with the experts. The party lines, according to its leader, revolve around “building on what has been built, strengthening the capacities of the health system and guaranteeing the fundamental right to health.”
“The Liberal Party has decided to continue with the work we had been doing with the Conservative Party and the Partido de la U in the examination and debate of the Colombian health system, which has shown great social, equity and health progress and can be said to be the best of any of the emerging countries and superior in its results to that of many industrialized countries, what This does not imply that substantial improvements can be made to it”, reported the former president.
For now, it is believed that this initiative may have an even better chance of being approved than the government’s. The great advantage that the project of liberalism would have is that it is filed as statutory law. As recalled, Minister Carolina Corcho insisted on presenting her initiative as an ordinary law, in such a way that it would require fewer debates, easier majorities and that it could start with the seventh commission where the government finds it easier to reach majorities.
But for legal experts it is clear that a health reform, touching so many fundamental rights, should be a statutory law, which is why many anticipate that even if the reform is approved, it will fall before the Constitutional Court.
What’s coming in Congress
The health reform began its long-awaited debate in the Congress of the Republic, after the filing of that initiative by the government a few weeks ago. For now, what has happened is that the parties Centro Democrático and Cambio Radical, opposed to the reform, have already filed their presentation reports.
Thus, with what was established on April 12, a reform that has been quite “hit” is put back on the tightrope. In detail, what the representatives leading the presentation argue is that what the government of Gustavo Petro intends to implement is not in the best interest of the country.
“After joint and harmonious work, Cambio Radical and Centro Democrático have filed a negative filing on bill 339 of 2023, presented by the national government, which seeks to reform the General System of Social Security in Health,” he said first. place one of the signatory representatives, for the Radical Change Party, Betsy Pérez.
“We require a reform of the social security system in health, but a reform that allows to build on what has been built, that allows to preserve the good practices, experiences and knowledge learned in the last 30 years that the implementation of the system has taken”, he added.
“It is not the solution that this country requires, which is to upholster health, it is not the solution that Colombians are needing. We are convinced that the legislative procedure that must be given is that of statutory law, since it touches the core of the fundamental right to health. For these reasons and many others we decided to present the negative paper”, he insisted.
“It will be the debate that we will give in the coming weeks and it will be the paper that we will defend in the sessions of the Seventh Commission,” the representative concluded.
Below is the full presentation report
The start of the health reform debate is postponed until next week
Now, although the debate was scheduled to begin this week in the Seventh Commission, where the reform project was filed, it was confirmed that this will not be the case.
“Since the presidency of the Seventh Commission we have decided not to open the debate tomorrow (April 13) on the health reform, with the aim of giving guarantees to the parties and the speakers,” announced representative Agmeth Escaf, who leads the Commission. In addition, he emphasized that they will seek to build a text that contains the suggestions of the other political parties.
“So that the new articles that have been presented It can be worked on in a calm way to be able to smooth out the spaces and give the guarantee to all the applicants and to all the sectors of participation in the process, with the support of the Government and the real concertation from the Ministry of the Interior and from the Presidency”, he argued.
In this sense, he confirmed that the third week of April will be the space to debate the controversial proposal.
“For next week it would be postponed, the speakers will start working 24/7. I want to emphasize that everyone is harmonious, willing. There has also been talks with the presidents of the parties and I believe that we are overcoming the last gap, which is precisely for this these days so that we can draw up a document in which, of course, a reform with a special transition and with good future for Colombians”, he assured.
The health reform proposed by Minister Carolina Corcho continues to face major obstacles in Congress. Despite efforts by the government to save the initiative, including negotiation with political parties, the reform has been met with numerous criticisms and warnings. Former President Gaviria has raised concerns about the nationalization of the health system and the lack of understanding of the complexity of the system. The Liberal Party has also decided to continue with the work they have been doing with the Conservative Party and Partido de la U, and together they are examining and debating the Colombian health system. Now, with Centro Democrático and Cambio Radical having filed negative reports on the bill, the debate on the reform has been postponed until the third week of April. Many legal experts are suggesting that a health reform that touches so many fundamental rights should be a statutory law, further complicating the situation. With so many obstacles and opposing views, it remains to be seen whether the health reform initiative will ever become a reality in Colombia.