Miley forces private drug companies to lower prices

The anger of Argentina’s wealthy middle class against rising private drug prices has abated in crescendo Until President Xavier Miley, a staunch supporter of free market regulation, was forced to act on the matter. This Wednesday, the government reversed the freedom of prices authorized for the sector by the megadecree with which it began its mandate and issued a resolution that forces major companies to reduce the price of their health plans: a maximum Authorized growth is equal to inflation. According to the latest official data, the accumulated price variation between December and March was 90%. Private medical schemes increased by more than 150% over the same period.

The blow to the wallet has been felt by all those who pay for these services, that is, about 14% of Argentina’s population, more than six million people. However, those most affected have been the elderly, who have seen their income decline due to pension cuts, while their expenses have skyrocketed due to steep increases in medicines and health plans. In extreme cases, faced with the impossibility of payment, some people turned to the courts and obtained favorable judgments. Others, despite themselves, have unsubscribed to join a health system serving retirees and pensioners.

The government began issuing increasingly serious warnings to prepaid pharmaceutical companies, as they are known in Argentina, but to date has not decided to take action because doing so is contradictory. leitmotif The liberalism that Miley defended in Davos: “The state is not the solution, it is the problem itself.” The presidential spokesman, Manuel Adorni, predicted at a press conference that the government would intervene to lower prices. To justify the measure, he accused a group of companies “which represents approximately 75% of private medical associates” of “cartelization”.

After some time, information about the official decision was received. Through a resolution, the Industry and Commerce Secretary ordered major private healthcare companies to “re-adjust the prices of fees of their health plans according to the monthly variation of the Consumer Price Index” starting from their next bill.

The secretariat also ordered the companies to stop exchanging information between them and to submit detailed documentation about each of their health plans such as prices, income received and number of members to the National Competition Commission. in view of A complaint filed before this body by representatives of the Civic CoalitionAn investigation has been launched into alleged cartelization leading to coordinated increases in prices of prepaid drug plans.

The National Competition Commission believes that agreements between competitors, commonly known as cartels, are “serious violations of competition law, leading to fines of up to 30% of the turnover of the offending companies.”

The companies examined included Galeno Argentina SA, British Hospitals of Buenos Aires Civil Association, German Hospital Civil Association, Medife Civil Association, Swiss Medical SA, Omint SA de Servicios and OSDE Organization of Direct Business Services.

voucher doctors

The head of Swiss Medical, Claudio Bellocopite, strongly criticized the official decision, noting that prices are rising in line with cost increases in a country where year-on-year inflation is 288%, the highest in three decades. “Have we gotten out of control, or has inflation gotten out of control?” Belokopit asked in a conversation with the LN+ channel. The businessman acknowledged that it has become difficult for many people to pay for health plans. As a possible solution, he proposed that the government also subsidize users of private medicine. voucher For parents who take their children to private schools to help pay the monthly fees: “The voucher What difference will it make if those who are sent to the field of education are sent to medical treatment also? This can be done through dialogue, not by seeking confrontation,” he stressed.

Belokopit also rejected accusations of cartelization made by the government and asked to look at other sectors of the Argentine economy in which he sees similar behavior with regard to price increases. “In the case of fuel, if Shell goes up, within five minutes YPF does the same. Similar situation happens with milk also. If we go to the tire industry, whose main input is rubber, when it grows and you see growth in tyres, there are similar bands of growth,” he said. Miley has many times denied that there are market failures, but perhaps as the supreme representative of the Argentine state he is beginning to see them.

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