“We must protect the basic principles”: former health minister Fernando Ruiz spoke about the health reform

Although he changed position after listening to and reading the former health minister, Fernando Ruiz, and his successor, health minister, Carolina Corcho, recalls a general position in the previous government, Mutual observation and criticism.

They are the two key people for this area. Ruiz is known for his handling of the pandemic and Corcho for his representative role in advancing political projects related to health, such as legislation on medical homes.

In recent months, two main issues have publicly compared them. First, Kovid 19; Guarantees for health workers, taking tests, arrival of vaccines and vaccination plans. Second, health reform.

Regarding the latter, controversial proposal that originates from civil society, Ruiz expressed in a calm but forceful tone that there are points that concern him.

“All Colombians must always be prepared to see how this so-called reform is going to interpret and defend the basic principles of care and coverage and guarantees of health services,” He said in conversation with LA FM.

He also assured that the magnitude of the change that would happen with the said flag of Petro Sarkar required more precision.

“This is an issue that should go forward and be discussed publicly and openly. I believe that we still do not have a clear and definite text. What one hears from the minister is basically justification. But in such a significant reform, which affects 52 million Colombians, it is absolutely vital that we all know what the real ingredients are.”she assured.

On one of the most debated points due to emotion and extreme analysis, the disappearance of the EPS, Ruiz questioned whether Colombians may have lost the guarantee of health care providers they have.

“You are confusing the funding problem with the insurance problem. It is very different when one integrates or pools the resources of all Colombians and distributes them to an insurer so that it manages, manages risk, finances contracts and medical bills and in some way takes care of a person’s health. Responding to a system for. , They are proposing public funds that provide payment for services without any guarantees. The difference here is where the guarantee is. I believe that the justification that the government has to give is whether a model of this type maintains the guarantees of service and insurance for Colombians”. she claimed.

In this sense, he acknowledged that EPS has challenges to overcome, but that is not the only thing that has failed the system.

“Clearly, EPS has had difficulties. In fact, a very large number of EPS have had to be liquidated. The first insurers that went bankrupt and the management problems were public… What I see here is that the minister is trying to set the scene for reform with arguments that actually lead to scrapping of EPS. Trying to justify the possibility. There are things that are really exaggerated, that EPS was left with a debt of 50 billion pesos. If this were to happen, government and private hospitals would have gone completely bankrupt.

For this reason, he also highlighted that the Colombian health system has characteristics that stand out, therefore it is important to “preserve the advantages that the Colombian population has received in terms of their right to health. It is fully guaranteed system and fully integrated system… Protect that right, protect insurance, the concept of social security. This is enough so that Colombians have peace of mind that what the health system will be for the future is guaranteed ”she assured.