IESS Health Scandal: Admin. Sacked, El Supremo Addresses the Nation

cccmedia Ecuador/Colombia Expert

Member since 13 March 2014

cccmediaEcuador/Colombia Expert16 February 2015 16:37:46

10285

Here are the latest developments in a matter affecting 2,000 Expats who participate in the EC healthcare program under IESS, plus Serial Expats who have been anticipating enrollment....

The administrator of Ecuador's largest IESS hospital was replaced on Friday, and Presidente Rafael Correa made a surprise visit there this weekend. He then announced that top-to-bottom change is needed at IESS. (Source: Cuenca High Life website)

He spoke in depth about the IESS situation in his weekly presidential address to the nation on Saturday.

El Presidente indicated that higher health-care premiums could be on the way...and said he will consider nationalizing some private clinics that have refused to assist IESS patients.

These developments follow the recent investigation into mismanagement, earlier reported, at IESS's Teodoro Maldonado Carbo Hospital in Guayaquil.

Also these items from the presidential address:

-- He is drafting legislature to address the "crisis" and will present it to the EC Assembly.

-- He said that though a full accounting is not yet in, the IESS system (which involves more than health care) is running hundreds of millions of dollars in the red.

-- He said that in 2014, the Maldonado hospital used only 63 percent of its $190-million budget, and the results have been "tragic," including long waiting times to provide care to patients, due to poor organisation and operational problems.

-- He said there is "inefficiency and corruption" in IESS's relationship with some private healthcare providers who apparently refused patient intake based on low IESS reimbursement rates.

(This story is now being widely reported by news outlets that cover Ecuador. Details in this post are from the report at Cuenca High Life:
cuencahighlife.com)

See also

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mugtech ViP

Member since 08 September 2012

mugtechViP27 February 2015 16:49:08

4726

So what, if anything, has changed?

cccmedia Ecuador/Colombia Expert

Member since 13 March 2014

cccmediaEcuador/Colombia Expert07 March 2015 03:17:06

10285

El Supremo has announced he is cutting his own salary as part of a 10-15 percent pay-cut for top EC officials, in order to fund 2,000 more doctors and nurses.

He said it's part of a campaign to reduce maternal mortality.

El Presidente said Ecuador needs more gynecologists, anesthesiologists and nurses.

The $21-million taken from top officials' salaries will go to the EC Health Ministry, he said.

Also taking the pay cut will be the vice-president, ministers, and public servants whose pay exceeds $6,000 per month.

source: telesurtv.net, as posted at latinamericacurrentevents.com

cccmedia Ecuador/Colombia Expert

Member since 13 March 2014

cccmediaEcuador/Colombia Expert12 March 2017 02:33:36

10285

mugtech wrote:
So what, if anything, has changed?

An extended article currently on the welcome page at the Cuenca Highlife website updates the situation with IESS/Social Security healthcare.

Among other things, the article points out that the number of beneficiaries in the system has tripled since an expansion dating back to 2010.

www.cuencahighlife.com

gardener1 Serial expat

Member since 08 May 2013

gardener1Serial expat12 March 2017 23:48:04

675

I read the Cuenca Highlife article and wanted to comment on the new visa situation requiring proof of health insurance for all new visa applicants; years of influx of retirees, and the declining state of Ecuador's healthcare financing. Because I think they're connected.

While in Cuenca in January we stayed at a small B & B owned by a family which seemed to have taken on some long term boarders.

One of them was a US retiree in a motorized wheelchair suffering from cancer, and her daughter who took care of her. They had been there several months after applying for a retirement visa + dependent. They seemed pretty clueless about the visa laws and had no idea of the new visa changes. They were not using a lawyer.

Although nice enough people, to my mind they were emigrating to Ecuador hoping to survive on their US dole while Ecuador would be responsible for their medical care as soon as the visas came through.

And if the visas didn't come through? What happens then? Does the Ecuador government load an old woman in a wheelchair with cancer onto the next plane (at their expense) and ship her back to America? And if she does stay in Ecuador, she will be a burden on the healthcare system for the rest of her life.

Because of their fairly generous social programs and low income qualification for pensioner's visas, I think Ecuador came to realize that they were attracting a lot of old, sick, poor people from other countries who were never going to put as much into the economy as they took out.

cccmedia Ecuador/Colombia Expert

Member since 13 March 2014

cccmediaEcuador/Colombia Expert13 March 2017 00:08:33

10285

gardener1 wrote:
the new visa situation requiring proof of health insurance for all new visa applicants....

They (mother and daughter) seemed pretty clueless about the visa laws....

Although nice enough people, to my mind they were emigrating to Ecuador hoping to survive on their US dole while Ecuador would be responsible for their medical care....

For the moment, we're all pretty clueless about how the new visa rules will shake out.

With a new administration coming in after the runoff election, I suspect it could be around August before all becomes clear.

In the meantime, it's conceivable that would-be visa applicants will be in limbo.

The matter of how the supposed insurance-requirement will be applied and enforced is part of the presently unknowable.

--------

The percentage of Expats in Ecuador is a drop in the bucket, so Expats burdening the IESS system is not the problem. As the Highlife article points out, the big burden on the system is the expansion that has allowed millions of Ecuadorian dependents not previously covered to enter the system as beneficiaries.

cccmedia

mugtech ViP

Member since 08 September 2012

mugtechViP13 March 2017 07:08:53

4726

I understand the drop in the bucket statistics of expats in Ecuador concerning the Healthcare system. However, as politics go and with the more conservative candidate currently given a slight edge, it would not be uncommon to disproportionately blame foreigners. This is currently a worldwide trend, as evidenced by the April election in France and the new administration in the USA. Wait and see can be difficult for anyone concerning future healthcare, as evidenced by the discussion going down in the USA. Wishing Ecuador nothing but the best.