If the health insurance reform is approved, the Colombian health system will collapse for the same reasons it currently has its British counterpart in this situation, and the Colombian proposal is a poor copy. The UK scheme is characterized by being publicly controlled, without insurance, with one large payer and segmented into two large service blocks acting separately.

On the one hand, there are the primary care centers registered by residents and where they should go first. If necessary, they are referred to a second hospital block, which is independent from the first in its organization, financing, and control. This is essentially the same reform proposed in Colombia, but erroneously ignores the problems and the vast differences between the two countries and health systems.

The British regime has contracted for 75 years, most of it always being public while in Colombia it’s the other way around: 82% private; He per capita in health is almost 10 times greater than Colombia, with 62% more hospital beds. It has almost 6 times more medical personnel and its area is 4.6 times smaller than Colombia, which, unlike ours, is connected by modern highways, railways and an airport.

Nonetheless, health in the country is currently facing one of the worst crises in its history. Its budget, although it has grown by 129% in the last 20 years, suffers every year from an increasing deficit expected in 2022 of $5.5 trillion pesos. It collects 7 million patients on a waiting list of up to a year to be treated, which represents 10% of its population, whereas in Colombia health care is 0.21%. This forces more and more British people to use private insurance, increasing out-of-pocket expenses, while in our country it does not exceed 15%, one of the lowest in the world.

The main problem with the UK system lies in the separation of primary care from hospital care. This means that no one is fully responsible for patient care. Primary care refers more patients than they should because of their pressure and to avoid higher costs because of the way they are financed. This caused the highly complex hospitals to be overwhelmed, there were enormous waiting lists, and expenses to skyrocket to unforeseen levels beyond control.

Copying the problematic model of a developed country with far more resources, institutions and human talent than we have, is a huge mistake. The UK is one of the few regions in the world that still has a segmented public health system, which experience has shown is not only inefficient and poor service delivery, but also socially, politically and economically unsustainable. The days are numbered.