Restructuring of IPE Health should be presented in April

The restructuring of the Health Care System for Public Servants of Rio Grande do Sul (IPE Saúde) is one of the main challenges for the state government in 2023. The institution started the year with a debt of R$ 200 million, but which has already was R$ 650 million in March last year. The project(s) to correct several bottlenecks in the plan, which serves around 1.2 million people in Rio Grande do Sul, should reach the Legislative Assembly in April.

“There are a series of points to be reformatted. I hope to have concluded by the end of March for the month of April, to present a way to give this restructuring to IPE Saúde”, said governor Eduardo Leite (PSDB), in a press conference given at the last Wednesday (8).

There are at least two main points to be reviewed internally at IPE Saúde: a financial-administrative issue of rebalancing accounts between income and expenses, and low remuneration for physicians in the health plan, which already causes professionals to be disqualified.

A possible change in the contribution rates of the beneficiaries of the plan is under discussion, but this is not the only alternative studied by Palácio Piratini to fit the institution’s expenses into its revenues. The proposal “is not just about the contribution, but among the points that should be discussed in the restructuring of the IPE is, yes, its financial result”, warned Leite.

“Is it via a tax rate? Not necessarily. It could be, among other points, calling in the contribution of dependents who currently don’t pay. If two civil servants with the same salary are contributing the same thing, and one can have three, four dependents, and the not another, the cost that this imposes on the service is very high”, reported the governor.

“Another point: IPE’s loss ratio is higher than that of other plans – including state, other states and comparing with the market. Why? Our average age of servers is higher than the average of customers of other plans of health, and our average ticket is smaller”, he also mentioned.

Another point addressed and that should be considered in the restructuring that will be sent by the Executive is the remuneration of medical fees.

“I expect changes in medical fees, which have not been readjusted for 12 years. Today, the hospital visit does not pay for hospital parking. In a cesarean section, the doctor receives, three months later, R$ 300 – to take care of the mother’s life and son. It is beyond any standard of reasonableness. Health plan starts with the doctors. Needing at this moment that the readjustment arrives through the national table”, argued Dr. Thiago Duarte (União Brasil), state deputy who is a doctor and provides care via EPI.

According to the parliamentarian, the fees already affect the attendance by the plan. “Today, we have massive medical disqualification. Anesthesia and heart surgery no longer exist through the IPE. There is no specialty, people cannot consult, and we are talking about 1.2 million lives. If it is not corrected, we will have even more shortages of assistance and the plan will be unfeasible”, he reported.

The issue is already debated in the Assembly. The Health and Environment Committee of the Gaucho Parliament approved, last Wednesday (8), the creation of a subcommittee to deal with the situation of the IPE, which will have 120 days to carry out works and studies and has already called a public hearing for the theme, which should be held in early April.

Duarte himself will chair the commission. He is also at the head of the Joint Permanent Commission for Consumer and Taxpayer Protection and Popular Legislative Participation and, through it, invited the president of IPE Saúde, Bruno Jatene, to participate in the commission meeting this Wednesday (15). Until the closing of this article, there were still no answers about the invitation.