Reduced coverage – The Counter

Mr. Director,
From March 1, the isapres will not be able to continue marketing plans with reduced coverage for mental health, which, added to the end of the pre-existence since January 3, constitutes the most important advance in recent years in this area of health.
Both changes, originated in circular No. 396 of the Superintendence of Health, come to materialize the premise that “there is no health if there is no mental health”, embodied in Law No. 21,331 that recognizes the rights of people in this area.
Thus, from next month the isapres will not be able to impose lower ceilings than those of physical health benefits, facilitating access to care in psychiatry and psychology with a lower cost for patients.
We are closer to a society without discrimination against those who suffer from this type of pathology and where mental health ceases to be in the backyard of the health system, invisible, to reach the transcendental place that it should always have occupied.
The mental health problems that thousands of people silently suffer are at the basis of a varied range of other diseases and their treatment could contribute to ostensibly improving the quality of life of many.
Hopefully it will not be the last of the Actions of the State to settle the enormous debt it maintains with the mental health of Chileans.
Dr. Mauricio Bonilla
Director of Saluta.
Specialist in Public Health.

Original source in Spanish