Diario Libre’s reporter Tania Molina looks into the losers and winners of the health plan scheme in the Dominican Republic. She highlights the scheme favors the business of medicine, not so the patients or physicians.
Despite numerous protests, the strong lobby of the banks that control the health plans, has worked the system so it is heavily sided in favor of profits for the mega businesses.
Almost all Dominicans are affiliated to the medical plan system. 10,468,341 people of 10,771,504 in the most recent Census are affiliated with the regulated family health insurance plans.
“But reality frequently becomes complicated and policyholders end up disbursing large sums of money to obtain the care they demand, increasing the profitability of a business, health, which is shared among its main actors,” explains the journalist in her report on who profits the most from the mega health insurance business.
Former president of the Dominican Medical Association (CMD) Wilson Roa called the plans a scam against patients and physicians. “What the insurance covers for me (doctors per consultation) is 500 pesos, minus the 10% withholding that the ARS takes when it pays me, minus the 18% that the DGI retains, that is, 28%. “They give me 340 pesos, in 65 or 90 days.”
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Diario Libre
14 February 2024