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Private Health Insurance "Prepagas" : 10 keys to understand the Government's claim, the position of the companies and how much the fees will increase - Infobae
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Prepagas: 10 claves para entender el reclamo del Gobierno, la postura de las empresas y cuánto aumentarán las cuotas
El Gobierno ordenó reajustar las cuotas de acuerdo a la inflación en reemplazo de los aumentos que las compañías vienen aplicando desde diciembre
www.infobae.com
April 18, 2024
The Government ordered to readjust the fees according to inflation to replace the increases that companies have been applying since December
The retraction of fee increases applies from December 2023 (Freepik)
After the deregulation of prices through DNU 70/2023 and in the midst of conflicts, the national government today ordered that prepaid medicine companies recalculate fee increases based on inflation.
The Minister of Economy, Luis Caputo , indicated on network Great work Juan Pazo and Pablo Lavigne in the Ministry of Commerce, using the institutional tools accordingly, and of course a great relief for the middle class.”
“By order of the Ministry of Economy, a group of prepaid medicine companies, which represent around 75% of the affiliates, are going to roll back the value of their fees to December 2023, adjusted from there by CPI,” said the presidential spokesperson, Manuel Adorni .
The conflict between the government and the prepaid companies has intensified in recent days and, in this context, Claudio Belocopitt , head of Swiss Medical, resigned as president of the Argentine Health Union (UAS).
1 - What are the measures taken in the resolution?
The Secretariat of Industry and Commerce and the National Commission for the Defense of Competition (CNDC), within the framework of a complaint made and given certain indications of cartelization among prepaid companies, whose investigation is ongoing, issued an advance protection measure based on the Competition Defense Law. This provides for action for damages against companies that commit anti-competitive practices if the sanction is final.
The measure prohibits any exchange of competitively sensitive information between the prepaid medicine companies investigated and the UAS.
Manuel Adorni announced that the value of his quotas will be rolled back to December 2023
2 - Since when do the fees go back?
The retraction of the increases has been since December of last year and enables prepaid companies to apply, at most, the Consumer Price Index (CPI) to calculate any increase. This limit applies, in principle, for the next six months.3 - What will happen to the value of the quotas?
The measure would reduce the quota by 33%, taking into account the official estimate that April inflation will be 10%.4 - How much have prepaid payments increased since December?
The government estimates that on average prepaid medicine fees increased 151%.5 - How will the money from these months' increases be returned?
The return of the increases is not within the scope of powers of the Ministry of Industry and Commerce. The Health Superintendency did present a precautionary measure before the Court so that the amount above inflation be returned to the affiliates. Based on a technical report accessed by Infobae , they proposed to the intervening court a formula for returning the surplus between the average 70% given by the cost of living and the average 140% increase applied by the main prepaid companies. One possible way would be the return through seven consecutive and equal installments of the estimated 70% that was collected irregularly, always taking into account the CPI of each month.6 - Can companies appeal the measure?
Companies can appeal the measure but it is worth noting that it comes into effect.
Claudio Belocopitt resigned from the presidency of the UAS
7 - How is the fine applied?
“Once the investigation is concluded and it has been independently proven that the collusive practice reported occurred, a violation of competition regulations may result in a fine of up to 30% of the turnover of the offending companies in Argentina, or up to double the illegally obtained benefit from the maneuver,” official sources reported.8 - What evidence did the Secretariat find to speak of presumption of cartelization?
The investigation is ongoing, the evidence is still preliminary, but there are statements, parallelism and simultaneity of the increases applied and other indications of cartelization that the CNDC opinion develops in detail.9 - What are the companies investigated?
- Galeno Argentina SA
- British Hospital of Buenos Aires Civil Association
- German Hospital Civil Association
- Medifé Civil Association
- Swiss Medical S.A.
- Omint SA Services
- OSDE Organization of Direct Business Services
- The Argentine Health Union (UAS), the confederation that brings them together
- Claudio Belocopitt , current president of the Swiss Medical SA firm and then president of the UAS.
10 - What did the companies say?
From the sector, in dialogue with Infobae, they assured: "If this measure has to be applied as announced, it will bankrupt the private health system, but not within six months, it will bankrupt within 60 days."“Prepaid companies are the enemy they chose now, but the one who deregulated the prices of the sector was the Government itself, with the DNU of December. Before they were the hegemonic media, now it seems that we are the prepaid companies,” said another source. “The measure involves not only prepaid companies but all providers, salaries, professionals and other areas. “It is a bomb on the entire private health system,” he added.
Companies justify the increases in the sharp rise in costs in recent months and the delay they had due to the regulations applied during the government of Alberto Fernández.
