What will happen to supplemental plans and prepaid medicine with the health reform decree?

Among the concerns raised by the new health system decree, one of the most common among Colombians is what will happen to supplemental plans and prepaid medicine.

Prepaid medical care is a private health service that operates as a policy or contract independent of the EPS. It provides access to an exclusive network of clinics, hospitals, and doctors with preferential care , reduced wait times, and other benefits.

The supplementary plan is an additional service offered by the EPSs to their members. Among its benefits are faster access to specialists and the ability to choose specific doctors or clinics for their care.

Speaking with Caracol Radio, Paul Andrés Rodríguez, a professor at the Universidad del Rosario , explained what will happen with the complementary plan and prepaid medicine in Colombia.

Rodríguez noted that both complementary plans and prepaid medicine are additional voluntary products that operate independently of the services offered by the EPS.

“Prepaid medicine has always been a separate business from hospitals. Furthermore, it has nothing to do with complementary health insurance, which is tied to the EPS. For this reason, prepaid medicine is a separate business, because it offers additional services beyond what is paid for with the UPC. Typically, appointments are obtained more quickly ,” he told the media outlet.

The expert added that, even with the new decree, the supplementary plans " could continue to function as a plan more similar to a prepaid plan, but as a cheap plan , where people will have the right to go to certain medical centers that could be the same CAPS (Priority Health Care Centers)."

However, the professor at the University of Rosario assured that with the decree's entry into force, health plans could be modified, but this would only apply to hospitals.

"Because hospitals once again have a fixed value for how much they'll earn through the EPS, it becomes a distribution of services across networks. They can then focus their business a little more on obtaining more profits from other plans, which is partly what's happening by favoring voluntary plans over EPS ," he told Caracol Radio.