After the filing of the health reform before the Congress of the Republic and the changes it proposes in the system, the question arises as to what will happen to prepaid medicine and complementary plans in the country.
According to figures from the National Administrative Department of Statistics (Dane), it is estimated that in Colombia there are 2.9 million people who pay for prepaid medicine or a complementary plan, which represents 5.7% of the total population, of which , 1.6 million are in prepaid, 1.3 million in complementary plan and 225,885 have a health policy. The leading entities in prepaid medicine in the country are: Colsanitas, Colmédica and Coomeva.
“Among the main benefits obtained through the Colsanitas prepaid medical plans are the possibility of direct access to one of the most important specialist networks in the country, having a single room in cases of hospitalization and having a wide network of medical centers and own diagnostic institutions for the care of members of our Colsanitas, Medisanitas, essential plan and colsanitas dental plans”, assured Sergio González, president of Keralty, the company that owns Colsanitas, EPS Sanitas and Clínica Colsanitas.
Regarding organizations that provide services similar to prepaid medicine, Sura has health policies, in which 423,253 users are affiliated. While Compensar has a complementary plan.
For Jaime Arias, former president of Acemi and an expert in health issues, affiliation to prepaid in Colombia is not that high but it is maintained due to the quality of the extra services they offer.
In accordance with article 17 of the reform, “private companies whose corporate purpose is the sale of prepaid or voluntary health plans may continue to operate and market their services, under the rules and standards of operation, financing and provision of services that govern them. Plan and insurance subscribers will not have any priority when using the health system, to which they are entitled.
However, the Colombian Association of Comprehensive Medicine Companies (Acemi) has warned that the elimination of the EPS will slow down access to health systems and increase the cost of normal service and prepaid medicine rates.
“The lack of coordination of consolidated plans in the current system would leave no basis to function. The complementary plans in which there are more than a million users cease to exist, and it is foreseeable that prepaid medicine will rise in price, since there will be no coordination between these plans and the public health system as is currently the case”, said Paula Acosta , CEO of Acemi.