CDH Discusses Implications of Cancelling Health Plans Without Notice — Senado Radio

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The Human Rights Commission promoted, on Wednesday, the debate on the unilateral cancellation of group health plans by members. This practice has mainly affected people with autism spectrum disorder and carriers of rare diseases. Correspondent Paulo Barreira has the details: The Human Rights Commission hearing that discussed the unilateral suspension of health plans and the continuous increases in prices charged by operators is taking place amid an increase in the number of complaints. Many users claim that the cancellations are carried out without prior notice or clear justification. Between April 2023 and January 2024, more than five thousand four hundred complaints about the unilateral suspension of health plans were registered on the platform of the National Consumer Secretariat linked to the Ministry of Justice and Public Security. Representatives of the entities present at the Senate debate stressed the harm caused by this practice, such as the interruption of ongoing treatments that are essential to the quality of life of patients. Lucas Andrieta, health program coordinator at the Consumer Protection Institute, criticized the current legislation that allows plans to cancel contracts without justification, as long as they meet the contractual deadline of 60 days in advance: (Lucas Andrieta, health program coordinator at the Consumer Protection Institute) “It is a regulatory gap that has existed since the 1998 law and has never been attacked, never been corrected. It harms consumers, generates serious damage and unnecessary and completely avoidable risks.” Senator Flavio Arns, from the Public Service Office of Paraná, author of the request for a public hearing, said that the Senate will look for alternatives to guarantee service to all beneficiaries of the health plan: (Senator Flavio Arns) “We will have several alternatives to present, noted in the Federal Senate, to demand first and foremost the National Agency for Complementary Health, ANS, a position that, in fact, does not depend on legislative change, so that there is oversight and control and there is no selective discrimination of groups that are eliminated, because they spend a lot according to the health plans.” The Senate is discussing some proposals to change current legislation, such as the one presented by Senator Fabiano Contarato, from the Workers’ Party do Espírito Santo, which prohibits employers from terminating contracts for elderly people or people with disabilities; the proposal of Senator Jaime Campos, from the União de Mato Grosso, which prohibits unilateral termination when the beneficiary is hospitalized or undergoing medical treatment; and the project of Senator Chico Rodrigues, from the PSB of Roraima, which prohibits health plans from limiting multidisciplinary care in the case of an autistic patient. Under the supervision of Marcela Diniz, from Radio Senado, Paulo Barreira.