More than a million Dominicans with HIV/AIDS, psychological problems, disabilities, and serious illnesses have been excluded from the Social Security System. Pedro Luis Castellanos and Angel Salvador Castillo called for re-opening the public hearings regarding the SSS. According to these doctors, nearly 40% of Dominicans are excluded from the proposed healthcare system. Speaking at a meeting of disabled persons and persons with HIV/AIDS, the doctors described this lack of service as unfair.
According to Hoy newspaper, the application of the family health service still has many of the principal actors talking about just what is supposed to happen, and this is why the system has not even started yet. The doctors pointed out that even with the launch of the Family Health Program, over a million Dominican will be without health care. The doctors estimated that 1.2% of the Dominican population is disabled in some form or another, 12% are infected with HIV or have AIDS, 7% is aging, 1% is suffering from mental problems and 8% are diabetics and possibly a similar number do not know that they possess the illness. Looking at these numbers, the doctors are saying that between 30% and 40% of the population are excluded from the health care under the Social Security System.