Ahead of the new meeting that the government will hold with isapres, the two sides are moving forward in their strategies for dealing with the crisis. While the government is showing its first steps, including proposing a bill to strengthen public systems in the face of possible migration of users, private legislation continues to put pressure on the State.
This Tuesday, isapre Banmédica and the British subsidiary of UnitedHealth Group (UHG UK) – the US company that controls insurance companies – set their notice and formalized the activation of the dispute settlement mechanism set out in the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) for requests for compensation from the State of Chile.
Isapre sent a communication to the regulator informing that, via a letter sent to President Gabriel Boric, with copies to the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Antonia Urrejola, and to the Minister of Health, Ximena Aguilera, they are starting this measure.
Banmédica and UHG – who also own Vida Tres isapre – emphasized that the active mechanism was not only due to the recent Supreme Court ruling, but also because of “various incidents that have harmed isapres’ work”.
They argued that the State “has committed a series of acts and omissions that have damaged, and continue to damage, UHG’s investments and the value of Banmédica,” which, according to the company, violated an international agreement between Chile and the UK. . .
regular transitions
Prior to the announcement of Banmédica, Minister Aguilera, at a press time, made it clear that the government’s plan would be implemented in “two separate lines of work”.
First, go through a joint process with isapres to find an administrative solution to the private company crisis caused by a Supreme Court decision that would force them to apply current factor tables in all plans, which could mean mass returns.
Second, with a project that “is basically looking to strengthen public systems to be in better shape to offer better care, like we’ve been working on during this administration.”
However, the minister assured that “we need an orderly and calm transition in the health system and we need a stable private insurance system to continue working on the transformation of the sector.”
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