The House of Representatives approves in the first debate on the health reform of the Petro government

Luis Fernando Velasco, Minister of the Interior in the government of Gustavo Petro, celebrated the approval by the Seventh Committee of the Chamber of Deputies, on Tuesday evening, of the health reform in Colombia. Velasco, the main person responsible for reaching agreements with political parties and getting positive votes for a bill that was in difficulty a few weeks ago, added emotionally…

Luis Fernando Velasco, Minister of the Interior in the government of Gustavo Petro, celebrated the approval by the Seventh Committee of the Chamber of Deputies, on Tuesday evening, of the health reform in Colombia. Velasco, who is mainly responsible for reaching agreements with political parties and getting positive votes for a bill that was in difficulty a few weeks ago, added enthusiastically: “Today, children in La Guajira have an EPS card, but they continue to starve. That will change when there are teams of doctors and nurses In the remotest village in the Pacific Ocean, Arauca, Guayna, or in the slums of big cities that ensure access to health care for millions of Colombians.

President Petro also celebrated the first legislative victory of one of his most important social reforms, a victory that his government had prioritized: “The health reform was approved in committee. Hard work and deep debate. Much deeper than when Act 100 was approved. I congratulate the members of Congress on their work,” the president wrote on his Twitter account.

Despite the government’s glee, the health reform still needs three congressional debates for approval. The next session will be in the plenary session of the House of Representatives scheduled for next week. The next two will be in the Senate. In any case, approval in the commission ensures that even if reform does not pass any of these debates before the end of this legislature in less than two months, it can continue its process in the next chamber, which begins on July 20th. .

In Tuesday’s debate, members of Congress included 14 new articles; They modified some of the most controversial matters, such as those that granted extraordinary powers to the president; And he removed nine of the original cards. They removed five of Petro’s six powers under Article 138. Only the power to allow it to carry out the budgetary operations needed to invest the new EPS, the Public Health Promotion (EPS) entity that the reform mandates to temporarily receive millions of additional citizens to be its insurance company.

The repeal of the nine articles was key to opening up a debate that, at the beginning of the day, seemed difficult to agree on. This is because they proposed that the state finance highly sophisticated medical services and create regional public funds to finance the new health system. Health Minister Guillermo Alfonso Jaramillo, who was present throughout the debate, acknowledged in one of his few interventions that the government had reached an agreement with liberal congressmen and La U, who together had the votes needed to determine the future of reform. , to cancel these articles in exchange for their support of the rest of the paper. “We have withdrawn 10 articles to be able to advance, we have presented in those situations, a compromise is being sought, and no one can say that health is being nationalized. We do not want to repeat the model of Cuba or Venezuela,” Jaramillo insisted.

Despite capitulating to those articles, the government managed to keep the heart of the reform. The most controversial is Article 60, according to which the State Director of Resources for the General Social Security System in Health (ADRES) becomes solely responsible for transferring funds from the health system to hospitals and clinics, whether to handle the funds until then. points and to determine how much and when you have to pay it. With this, EPS will not only lose the function of being financial intermediaries for money, but also the function of being insurance companies that determine the time and amount of transfers. This meant the end of the central place they occupied until today in the health system that was established in 1993.

Another key provision of the reform, approved last week, is Section 49. It lays the foundations for EPS to become Health and Life Directors, new entities with far fewer functions. The government managed to make this change in a maximum of two years rather than in five years, as other members of Congress have proposed to ensure a less abrupt transition. Besides the name change, with this provision, EPS will no longer be responsible for regulating networks of health service providers such as hospitals and laboratories.

The approval of this reform in the first debate is a huge boost for the government and shows that representatives in the Liberal Party and U Party council can continue to support the executive’s most discussed initiatives, despite the fact that the political coalition they were part of broke a few weeks ago. This is in contrast to the reform moderation that Petro prioritized, which reflects his less left-wing positions than those of the government. It is believed that it will be more difficult to get their positive votes in the Senate, where their votes are essential.

In committee, the government managed to add between 12 and 14 positive votes to most articles, when it needed 11 to pass. The six representatives of the Conservative Party, Cambio Radical and Centro Democrat were negative at almost all points, indicating a confluence of a minority but broader opposition (the Conservatives were part of the coalition) and a clear right-wing ideology.

Representative Andrés Forero, from the Democratic Center Oribesta and the only one who has declared himself against the reform, admitted defeat on his Twitter account: “Gustavo Petro’s health reform approved in the first debate. They are ending the insurance system and laying the foundations for a costly and ineffective state monopoly. We regret the defeat. But we are not giving up. The fight continues in the plenary, in the Senate and in the court.”

Minister Jaramillo took advantage of the end of the discussion to thank the representatives for approving the reform and wrote on his Twitter account: “He approved the reform.” #health_life In the first discussion. The Seventh Committee of the Chamber of Deputies approved 143 articles that will change the country’s health system and allow all Colombians to have access to a model with good infrastructure, health workers with good salary conditions, and patients with comprehensive care.

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