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The Government is considering going to court against "prepagas" companies for alleged “abusive conduct” - La Nación
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El Gobierno evalúa ir a la Justicia contra las prepagas por supuesta “conducta abusiva”
La Superintendencia de Servicios de Salud prepara un informe para la Comisión de Defensa de la Competencia en medio de la investigación por presunta cartelización de las empresas de la salud para fijar precios; sostiene que hubo aumentos similares entre los “principales cinco actores del sector”
www.lanacion.com.ar
April 09, 2024
The Superintendency of Health Services prepares a report for the Competition Defense Commission in the midst of the investigation for alleged cartelization of health companies to fix prices; maintains that there were similar increases among the “main five players in the sector”
By: Ignacio Grimaldi
The dispute between the Government and health companies continues
The confrontation between the Government and prepaid medicine companies added a new chapter. The Superintendency of Health Services said today that it is considering going to court against the companies for alleged “abusive conduct,” according to sources from the entity told LA NACION. This is one of the conclusions reached by that organization while preparing a report at the request of the National Commission for the Defense of Competition (CNDC), which is investigating alleged cartelization of the firms, as this media reported on Sunday.
The Superintendency of Health Services understands that “the 5 main players in the sector” would have ordered increases well above inflation, according to a source from the agency. The numbers that support this position would indicate that five companies increased the value of their quotas between 142% and 163% from January to April. “They are increases very close to each other and, at the same time, very far from inflation,” they noted.
This is information that the Superintendency plans to include in the report that the Competition Commission requested last week and that has until April 17 to respond.
The CNDC investigates an alleged “collusion” between prepaid companies. This means, in other words, that it seeks to determine if there was an agreement between the companies to set prices.
When asked by LA NACION, sources from private health companies responded:“We are confident that there was no collusion of any kind.”
The head of Swiss Medical and the Argentine Health Union, a confederation that brings together prepaid companies, Claudio Belocopitt.Mauro Alfieri - La Nación
This is one more chapter in the confrontation between the administration of Javier Milei and the private medicine companies, just one day after the post made by the head of the Treasury, Luis Caputo, who had pointed out that “the prepaid companies are declaring war on middle class". There he also assured that the Government would do what was necessary "to defend it."
The prepaid medicine entities grouped in the chambers and associations Cimara, Ademp and Cempra responded yesterday and announced that they will ask Caputo for a hearing, “in order to bring him all the information that is available and that explains -among other situations - the definancing to which the sector was subjected for years.”
Thus, the Government is evaluating moving forward with its own initiative, at the same time that it joined the complaint presented by opposition leaders at the beginning of the year, which is what originated the file in the National Commission for the Defense of Competition. On January 15, a group of legislators from the Civic Coalition led by Maximiliano Ferraro and Hernán Reyes, presented a formal accusation for “anticompetitive conduct” that supports the CNDC investigation. Almost three months later, it gained new momentum.
From the Argentine Health Union (UAS) they said that at the moment they have not been notified of a new instance. “At the time the notifications were responded to, but we are not going to give details of what we presented,” they explained.
The CNDC is an organization within the Ministry of Commerce that functions in a “deconcentrated” manner. Its function is to guarantee “the quality of goods and services, at the lowest possible price.”
“In January we saw that the companies had had some meetings and when the increases were confirmed we denounced them for cartelization and asked that an analysis be done,” Reyes told LA NACION.
According to the text of the complaint, it is based on journalistic statements by Claudio Belocopitt (owner of Swiss Medical and president of the UAS). They point out that there were allegedly “meetings to coordinate the setting of an increase for users, which would have agreed on an estimated increase of around 40%.”
This is one of the most sensitive files in the Commission's possession. It is under summary secrecy and a “firm resolution” from the organization is expected, according to official sources.
This is the first formal investigation against prepaid healthcare for alleged collusion that arises in the public offices of the Executive. Until now, the setbacks against the companies had arisen from Justice, when different judges accepted precautionary measures from the affiliates to return prices to the situation before the increases.
An example: at the end of last February, the Federal Civil, Commercial and Contentious Administrative Court of San Martín No. 2 decided to expand, in principle for a hundred people, the scope of a precautionary measure issued in mid-January, to through which a prepaid medicine entity was ordered to annul the fee increases applied or announced under the protection of the provisions of DNU 70. The resolution is valid “until a final ruling is issued” on the issue.
The official fight against prepaid companies also takes place in the declarative field. This morning, the presidential spokesperson, Manuel Adorni, pointed out that there is “a cartelization that is beyond all reasonableness.” And he warned: "We deregulate, we give freedoms, but we do not allow there to be a degree of cartelization that affects Argentines."
