Temer's minister wants to shrink the SUS (Brazilian public healthcare system) to benefit private health plans.
Health Minister Ricardo Barros defended on Wednesday (6) the creation of a kind of popular health plan, with lower costs, in an attempt to alleviate government spending on financing the Unified Health System (SUS); the idea was presented during a public hearing at the Senate's Social Affairs Committee; according to the proposal, the plans will have fewer services than defined by the National Supplementary Health Agency (ANS) as mandatory minimum coverage.
247 - Health Minister Ricardo Barros defended on Wednesday (6) the creation of a kind of popular health plan, with lower costs, in an attempt to alleviate government spending on financing the Unified Health System (SUS). The idea was presented during a public hearing at the Senate's Social Affairs Committee.
According to the proposal, the plans will have fewer services than what is defined by the National Supplementary Health Agency (ANS) as the minimum mandatory coverage.
“What we are proposing for reflection is that we can have plans with easier access for the population and, obviously, with coverage proportional to that access. We need to have other tiers of health plans so that we can allow more people to contribute to the financing of healthcare in Brazil,” he argued.
The editor of Tijolaço, Fernando Brito, criticized the idea: "That is to say, a 'cheap' health plan, duly subsidized by the Treasury (a deductible expense from Income Tax) to do whatever is 'cheap'. With that quality you see up there or that you've already experienced firsthand. If the 'unfortunate' person has something more serious, requiring more expensive exams, equipment, or interventions, they go to the SUS (Brazilian public healthcare system). Or to what's left of it."
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