A series of setbacks: government project will expel the elderly from health plans.

The regressive agenda under Temer is a bottomless pit. The report presented to a special committee of the Chamber of Deputies last week, altering the Health Plan Law, imposes readjustment rules that will end up expelling thousands of people over 60 from the plans. Each setback benefits a business segment. If the decree on slave labor benefits rural landowners, this project rewards health plan operators with the relaxation of fines for non-compliance with obligations, the reduction of reimbursements to the SUS (Brazilian Public Health System) for the care of insured individuals, and segmentation as a guiding principle of the market. Against this further setback, Idec (Brazilian Institute for Consumer Protection) is launching the campaign "Don't mess with my health" and warning the deputies who are members of the committee that the proposal violates the Statute of the Elderly and the Consumer Protection Code. They want to approve it under urgency procedures, before society realizes the trickery and reacts.

The change to the health insurance law is being pursued in the Chamber of Deputies with government support, based on the examination of 149 bills on the subject. Thus, it doesn't appear to be a proposal from the Presidential Palace. The rapporteur is a favorite of Temer's shock troops, Deputy Rogério Marinho (PSDB-RN). Currently, the law allows for annual adjustments to health plans for all policyholders, including the elderly, but prohibits age-based increases for those who have already turned 60. The proposed amendment eliminates this guarantee and will allow the elderly to pay more on each birthday, in addition to the annual adjustment, which is always higher than inflation. As Professor Lígia Bahia of UFRJ stated in an article published today in O Globo, "if the rule regarding increases is approved, from a certain age each birthday will be a threat and not a celebration." According to her, the bill "envisages the expulsion of the elderly and transforms the SUS (Brazilian public healthcare system) into a service provider for health plans."

- It is crucial that the population understands what changes are being discussed and knows that they can exert pressure to prevent such a serious setback from being approved. It is our right to have information and to monitor the actions of parliamentarians - says Ana Carolina Navarrete, lawyer and health researcher at Idec.

Idec and nine other civil society organizations, including some state public defenders' offices, sent a letter to the rapporteur requesting access to the content of his opinion and the postponement of the vote, so that the proposal can be widely discussed, including in public hearings with representatives of society.