00:00The government of Abelardo de la Espriella ordered the implementation of the emergency health plan,
00:04But it does so without yet answering a question that has been on the table in the sector for several weeks.
00:09With what money will it be done?
00:10The first phase of that plan involves identifying patients who have medications,
00:14backlogged procedures or treatments, establish who is at greatest risk
00:18and try to resolve those issues.
00:20The diagnosis that the Ministry of Health has gives an idea of the magnitude of the problem.
00:24There are 318,094 members with 844,952 drug records classified in the very high criticality category.
00:34In procedures and services there are another 94,402 members with more than 155,000 pending registrations.
00:41And there are more than 109,000 pregnant women who have gone more than 45 days without prenatal care.
00:46During the campaign, the current president promised 10 trillion pesos to stabilize the system
00:51and address some of those backlogged critical needs.
00:54The problem is that those 10 billion are not available, as the Ministry of Health has acknowledged.
00:58So, what path is being explored?
01:00One of the alternatives being studied by the Ministry of Health involves unlocking resources that are already within the system.
01:05This is the case with so-called maximum budgets that finance some services and technologies
01:09included in the Health Benefits Plan.
01:12As explained by the Ministry of Health in meetings with patients,
01:15Part of those resources would be held up by difficulties in closing the MIPRES cycle.
01:20In other words, there would be money that is not flowing due to an administrative and operational bottleneck.
01:25The goal would be to solve that problem.
01:27But unlocking resources is not the same as obtaining new resources.
01:30The second alternative is portfolio purchase.
01:32The president announced an extraordinary mechanism for targeted portfolio purchases with 0% interest.
01:38with the aim of improving the system's liquidity.
01:40But there are still several open questions.
01:42It is unclear which portfolio would be included in that mechanism, which bonds could be purchased,
01:47how much money the government would put up, what criteria would be used to choose the debts, and when it would start operating.
01:52And there is one last question that goes beyond this plan.
01:55Even if the government manages to secure resources to address the most immediate emergencies,
01:59The financial problem of the system does not disappear.
02:01By 2027, according to calculations by Sectorial, a market analysis firm,
02:05Taking into account a sectoral inflation rate of approximately 8% and a claims rate of 108%,
02:11The resources allocated to the system would have to grow by around 19.9%.
02:16But the government's health budget includes an increase of only 1.8%.
02:20Therefore, the emergency plan leaves two questions on the table.
02:24The first one is immediate.
02:25Where will the money come from to address what is currently backed up?
02:28And the second one is much bigger.
02:29How will the health system be financed and made sustainable once the emergency plan is over?
02:48Thanks for watching the video.
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