Former Health Plan: know when best to change
This article was translated by an automatic translation system, and was therefore not reviewed by people.
by Carolina Dall'olio
Operators try to stimulate the migration of the contracts signed before 1999, but customers resist. In some situations, the previous plan may be more interesting than those that are traded in the market today.
The number of beneficiaries of health plans called old decreased from 1,045,071 in 2007 to 904,281 last year in the State of Sao Paulo - a fall of 13.47%. The old plans are those hired before 1999, when there was a comprehensive regulation of the sector.
Operators argue that in most cases, the output of the plans was because the deaths, the deadline for agreement or even situations where the dependent reaches the age of majority or marry.
Another reason are the promotions that encourage consumers to change the new plans. "In some cases, businesses may be more advantageous to work with standardized contracts instead of having to deal with the exceptions of the old plans," said Solange Beatriz Mendes, director of Fenasaúde, which represents operators.
However, there are consumers who prefer to abandon the old plans for the shortcomings they have in relation to new plans. As the old plans predate the creation of the National Supplementary Health (ANS), there are new rules in the industry that they are not legally forced to comply. There is no requirement, for example, provide coverage of a minimum list of procedures, to perform a price adjustment nor tabled to allow the consumer to change a plan with another carrier without grace (portability).
However, before considering these characteristics as a disadvantage and decide to migrate to a new plan, the consumer must evaluate the contract at hand. "In some cases, your old plan may be more interesting than those that are traded in the market today," said Daniela Trettel, a lawyer for the Brazilian Consumer Defense (Idec).
To find out if it's worth changing or not, the consumer must pay attention to price, coverage and content of adjustment set in the contract. From there, it is necessary to find the price plans that offer coverage equivalent and see if they have similar values - in this case, the migration can be beneficial.
Still, we must consider the lack required. When the change occurs between planes of the same operator, Law 9656/1998 states that there is lack of compliance for procedures that were already in the contract. Only the new procedures would be subject to this waiting. "But even in these cases has already understands that it is an unfair, and has been successful in their appeals for anyone, releasing the need for grace," said the lawyer Idec.
However, if the change is for a plan from another carrier, there's no way: the shortage is mandatory, as the old plans do not participate in portability. Marina Fernandez Lopez, Medial customer since 1992, is dissatisfied with the services of the operator - and often it looks more than an hour to be served in the ranks of the network. But how can not avail themselves of portability and is the mother of 83 years as a dependent, Marina is where you are. Do not accept the offer to migrate to a better plan within the same company. "They offered a service that I'll never use, such as acupuncture, and wanted to charge me much."
THINK BEFORE LEAVING THE OLD PLAN
To find whether it is worth moving to a new plan, consider the price of your current plan in relation to their age group, coverage of procedures and the adjustment rate prescribed in the contract.
Look in your service and competitors, pricing plans with similar coverage to see if yours current contract is expensive or cheap.
The new plans are adjusted by the index calculated by the NSA, which tends to be slightly higher than the inflation period. If the rate of readjustment of his contract only reset inflation, this may be an advantage.
Source: Jornal da Tarde
This article was translated by an automatic translation system, and was therefore not reviewed by people.
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