The National Commission for the Defense of Competition (CNDC) iaccused the prepaid medicine companies of alleged cartelization, to the Argentine Health Union and the businessman Claudio Belocopitt, announced this Thursday the presidential spokesperson, Manuel Adorni at his press conference.
“From now on, the accused firms have 20 business days to make their defense and offer evidence to refute the accused conduct,” explained the official at Casa Rosada. Along these lines, he announced that the companies accused are: Galeno, Hospital Británico, Hospital Alemán, Medifé, Swiss Medical, Omint, OSDE, the Argentine health confederation, UAS and Claudio Belocopitt
The official clarified that if the alleged cartelization is proven, the Government may fine the prepaid medicine companies with 30% his business volume or up to double the illicit benefit obtained.
The Government’s complaint against prepaid companies and Claudio Belocopitt
The announcement made at a press conference follows the line of investigation carried out by the CNDC, an entity that issued an opinion advising the Secretary of Industry and Commerce – Pablo Agustín Lavigne – accuse the companies named by Adorni. In addition, the commission also proposed denouncing the confederation that brings together prepaid companies and the person who presided over them.
During his speech, the presidential spokesperson stated that the measure arises from a complaint of cartelization linked to the price fixing that occurred between the months of December 2023 and April 2024. “In April, the Ministry of Economy intervened by issuing an early protection measure that forced companies in the sector to retrograde the prices of health plans to those in force in December, and ruled that the increases cannot be above inflation“Adorni explained.
“The CNDC recalls that agreements between competitors or concerted practices, commonly known as cartels, constitute a serious infringement of competition legislation, which can lead to fines of up to 30% of the turnover of infringing companies in Argentina“, detailed from the Secretary of Industry and Commerce about the crime attributed to the prepaid companies and Belocopitt.
Indeed, the intervention also demanded “cessation of any type of exchange of information, whether within the framework of the meetings of the UAS or any other area, which involve prices, services to be provided, costs and any other commercial information”, as detailed in an official statement from the Secretary of Industry and Commerce.
Within the framework of the accusation made, legal and human persons will have 20 business days to make their defense. In addition, the CNDC will set a period that may not be longer than 90 business days – and which, if deemed necessary, may be extended for up to 90 more business days -, for the granted evidence to be produced.
After this period, the accused parties will have 6 business days to present your allegations. Then, a decision must be made on the imputation made.
Prepaid increases for December
Prepaid medicine companies began to send their increase notifications to members with the update of the fees they will have to pay in December. Some have already confirmed their increases, as is the case of OSDEwith an average of 3.6%; Galen, 3.7%; Swiss Medicalhim, 3.5% and Omint a 3.9%. For its part, Sancor Healthfell from 6.1% to 3.06% and Medifewent from 4.7% to 3.4%.
The least pronounced increase was marked by Accord Salud, which informed its members an increase of 2.9%, after having raised your quota 6.9% in November. On the contrary, the company Avalian raised the quota from 4.5% to 4.9%.
Source: Ambito
