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🇵🇾 Paraguay /Health & Science

Paraguay retirees challenge health emergency bill: “They want to cover debts, not health care”

From ABC Color · () Spanish

Translated from Spanish and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

News Named sources Ongoing story
  • Paraguay's National Union of Retirees is urging Congress to postpone consideration of a proposed health emergency law for the Social Security Institute, or IPS.
  • Union president Gustavo Canatta says Senate changes could allow retirement funds to finance the institute's health-care deficit and cover debts to pharmaceutical suppliers.
  • The union plans to petition Congress, the Superintendency of Pensions and the Paraguayan Industrial Union for a halt to the vote and a dialogue on alternatives.

Paraguay's National Union of Retirees is demanding that lawmakers postpone consideration of a proposed health emergency law for the Social Security Institute, known as IPS. The group argues that the Senate version has shifted away from health care and toward financial operations.

Gustavo Canatta, the union's president, said the bill could permit the use of retirement funds as collateral or financing for the institute's health-care deficit. “We believe the risk is too great, and what they are doing with this law is allowing the use of retirees' funds, even though Article 95 of the Constitution clearly says they cannot be used for other purposes,” he said.

Canatta also questioned the proposal to extend the emergency for roughly two and a half years. He said the length of the measure points to structural and administrative weaknesses rather than a temporary emergency. In his view, the underlying goal may be to cover debts owed to pharmaceutical suppliers by using pension funds as security.

We believe the risk is too great, and what they are doing with this law is allowing the use of retirees' funds, even though Article 95 of the Constitution clearly says they cannot be used for other purposes.

· Gustavo CanattaThe president of Paraguay's National Union of Retirees criticized the proposed use of pension funds to address the IPS health-care deficit.

He said the amended articles, including Articles 1, 2, 3, 7, 17, 18 and 19, do not address health care. Instead, he argued, they would give authorities broad latitude to restructure finances and settle debts with drug suppliers.

The retirees' union says IPS should pursue other measures, including stopping contribution evasion, ending inflated payments for medicines and publishing transparent figures on the institution's contributors. It plans to send formal letters to Congress, the Superintendency of Pensions and the Paraguayan Industrial Union, seeking to stop the vote and open negotiations on joint solutions.

They are probably looking for a way to cover the debts they have with pharmaceutical suppliers, using pension funds fundamentally as collateral.

· Gustavo CanattaCanatta argued that the bill's financial provisions could be intended to cover debts rather than address a temporary health emergency.
About this summary

Originally published by ABC Color in Spanish. Translated, summarized, and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

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