The fall in real family wages can put a important obstacle to the Government’s intentions to deregulate the system of social works so that institutions of union origin compete with each other and with prepaid medicine companies for contributions from members. It is because 50% of the population is not in a position to reach a minimum capita that allows you to afford the Mandatory Minimum Program (PMO).
It is worth remembering that recently the Government established, at the impulse of the Minister of Deregulation, Federico Sturzenegger, that prepaid companies have to compete directly with social works, without intermediaries, that is, without first having to transfer their money to a union social work with an agreement with a prepaid company.
According to the director of the Institute for Argentine Social Development (IDESA), Jorge Colina, “a reasonable value could be between $40,000 and $50,000 per person,” although it clarifies that “there is no” specific price for the PMO. What can be assured is that the 40% of those affiliated with social works contribute about $20,000 per month, according to IDESA research.
The problem of household income
The report indicates that, based on numbers from the National Institute of Statistics and Censuses (INDEC), it can be determined that “40% of the lowest-income households have a per capita family contribution of about $20,000 per month. For its part, 30% of middle-income families have a capita of $37,000 per month While the 30% of the highest-income households have a capita of $75,000 per month.
“This collides with the fact that the PMO – which is the package of benefits that social and prepaid works must provide in exchange for the per capita contribution – is the same for everyone,” warns the study by IDESA. In practice, many families will continue to see their ability to choose social or prepaid work restricted. because their low level of per capita family contribution does not cover the costs of the PMO.
As Colina clarifies, the PMO is not a basic benefit. It includes whether a series of treatments that social works have to cover even if with costs that can be very different between some and others, depending on the quality of the provider who offers the service. For example, all are required to offer inpatient services, but some may have their own top-level clinics with more expensive hotel services than others and in that case, the cost varies.
The problems in changes in contributions for social works
Colina points out in this regard that “half of the members are not able to cover a PMO” and, therefore, within each social work, a cross subsidy is produced. How discounts based on a proportion of salaries, those who earn more cover those who earn less.
“The possibility that families can choose to join a prepaid plan directly, without going through the intermediation of a social work, seeks to make the system more efficient,” says the study. He clarifies that “the objective is that the resources used to pay the commission to the social work that derives contributions to a prepaid plan are used to improve medical care.”
“The change is positive for families with higher contributions, but inconsistent when contributions are low. For the large sector of the underfunded population (that is, with contributions that do not cover the cost of the PMO) the scheme will fail,” warns the private report.
He maintains that “the reason is that prepaid and social works will look for a way to avoid the affiliation of these people or, if they receive them, they will look for surreptitious ways to not give you coverage and induce them to resort to public hospitals.”
IDESA points out that, To resolve this imbalance, the Government has to use the resources of the Solidarity Redistribution Fund (FSR) which is financed with 15% of contributions from the social work system and prepaid medicine companies. This fund is used to compensate for differences in resources between social works, basically. It was born in the 90’s as a way to compensate smaller social works with fewer contributions.
Source: Ambito
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