translated from Spanish: Opposition rejects Piñera Health project: “it is a minimum plan that does not meet social demands”

Presidents and representatives of the full opposition collectively rejected the proposal for a new health system of the Government of Sebastián Piñera, announced on Sunday. In a statement they stated that “behind the name ‘Universal Health Plan’ there is an intention to deepen the logics of the subsidiary state and an unrestricted defense of the market in health”, thus being a “minimum plan” that does not aim to resolve the social demands. From the union of the opposition on this issue they pointed out, with a view to the elaboration of a new Constitution, that they will seek that the public health system guarantee access to it regardless of ability to pay. The proposal would include a fund and sole health manager, so that the Isapres stop “managing and profiting from social security funds, transforming into regulated supplemental insurance, financed only by voluntary contributions from people seeking other hotel conditions or benefits of lower health relevance”, further ensuring “a fair transition for current isapre members”. In that vein, they added that “We will propose a bill to bring together tax contributions and compulsory contributions into a single solidarity fund, which advances in reaching at least 6% of public investment GDP in the short term (8% in the medium term); with a single public administrator, who ensures universal coverage and timely access to organized, quality, integrated and Primary Care-based public networks (this may be called a single fund or national health insurance), they said. They also noted that “urgent reforms are also needed in the health sector to increase, retain and stimulate public health workers, improving training, working conditions and development to meet the needs of the population; in addition to investment and management plans aimed at resolving long waiting lists in the short term,” they added that “these and other measures will eliminate public health businesses, avoiding inefficiencies and confusing the patient’s interest with the interest of profit”, in order to “grant dignity, improve the quality of life and end the odious separation of sub-systems for first and second class Chileans”. Among the signatories of the document Heraldo Muñoz (PPD), Alvaro Elizalde (PS), Catalina Pérez (RD), Camilo Lagos (PRO), Guillermo Teillier (PC), Carlos Maldonado (PR), Gael Yeomans (Social Convergence), and Javiera Toro (Common).

Original source in Spanish