After the Swiss Medical and Medifé announcements at the beginning of the week, OSDE and Galen joined in the last hours to the decision to moderate the increases in their May quotas. This reverse occurs after the government’s request, made ten days ago, so that prepaid medicine companies reduce the expected increase percentages.
Finally, the adjustment indices that will be applied will remain, in many cases -especially in companies with the largest number of affiliates -, below the last value of the consumer price index (CPI) announced, which for the month of March was 3.7 percent. It should be remembered that on April 16, after knowing inflation, the Prepaids communicated to their affiliates the increases, which in most cases were around that percentage.
Now, after these modifications, the average of the increases in the most important prepaid will be approximately a percentage point below the CPI, Clarín Diario said Saturday. The increase in Swiss Medical experienced the greatest reduction, from 3.7 to 2.4 percent. Medifé adjusted its increase of 3.7 to 2.7 percent. In the case of OSDE, the variation will depend on the plan, but on average it will be 2.74 percent, when it had originally communicated 3.4 percent. For its part, Galen will correct its adjustment of 3.5 to 2.7 percent.
“He who gets his feet from the plate loses,” said a manager of one of the medical insurance companies that decided to back down with May. This phrase suggests a double reading: on the one hand, the interest of maintaining a good relationship with the government, which requested to moderate the increases; on the other, the dynamics of competition between the prepaid and the positioning of each one in their price policy.
The Government had summoned the main private medicine companies to a meeting at the Ministry of Health on Wednesday, April 16, at the week prior to Holy Week. The following Monday, after the long weekend, the first prepaid began to review their increases. Other prepaid and health plans that participated in that meeting were Medicus, Italian hospital, Omint, Hominis and Sancor Salud.
In the case of Medicus, which had communicated its May increase in advance, they confirmed that the adjustment planned for next month was 2.2 percent.
As for the increase communicated by letter for June, at least for the moment, it remains at 4.95 percent. On the rest of the prepaid prepaid, it was not reported whether there will be a reduction of the rise already announced or how much it would be.
