Swiss Medical announced that it will apply a reduction of 22.22% since May to comply with the regulations issued by the Ministry of Commerce that requested prepaid medicine companies to roll back their fees to December 2023.
The percentage is similar to that reported by OSDE last Wednesday, although it is far from the 30% that the Government had calculated at the time of announcing the measure and denouncing an alleged “cartelization” by the companies to raise their prices.
“It is very important for us to convey to you that the increases made in these months are the result of reducing, in part, the large gap generated between the increase in our cost structure and the quotas authorized by the competent authority until December 2023”the prepaid company informed its members.
He added that “this gap was accentuated exponentially in the last quarter of 2023, in which a cumulative difference of 62.6% ended up being generated between inflation and prepaid medicine fees.” The decision of Galeno and Medifé is expected to be known in the next few hours.
Prepaid companies recalculate fees, but warn of “imminent collapse of the system”
The prepaid companies began to recalculate the fees they will charge their clients next month to comply with the regulations imposed by the Government. They estimate that on average they will drop around 20% nominal. But the discussion did not end. Sector sources warned Ámbito of an “imminent collapse of the system” as a result of the accumulated imbalances.
They anticipated that they will appeal the measures promoted by the Ministry of Commerce, they ask to face a deregulation that allows offering different benefits and They assure that in the coming weeks the shortage of shifts and the collection of co-payments will grow.
A group of private medicine companies began to confirm the readjustment of their affiliate fees. According to the information that this medium was able to collect, the average drop will be 20% although it differs depending on the company, the plan and type of client: direct or deregulated.
This is because just four months after releasing prices, in an exceptional theoretical framework jump, The Government established a new regulation that forces prepaid companies to roll back the fees to the values of December 2023. At the same time, the average inflation measured by the INDEC was established as a limit for increases from that moment until April and for the next six months.
Companies will comply, but reluctantly. Two sources from the sector consulted by Ámbito agreed that they will exhaust all administrative and judicial avenues to reverse the regulation of the Ministry of Economy led by Luis Caputo. If the appeals do not succeed, the leaders assure that the sector is heading towards an “imminent collapse.”
As explained by the prepaid companies, the Reduction of the quotas will also imply a reversal with the updates that they had granted to their providers, which at the same time granted salary increases based on expected income. All of this should now be calculated according to the new reality, that is, December values adjusted for inflation.
Source: Ambito
