HIBAPRESS – Rabat
The trade union alliance composed of representatives of doctors in the private sector and private clinics has sounded the alarm about what it considered "major risks" carried by draft law No. 54.23, relating to the amendment of Article 44 of Law 65.00 on basic health coverage, warning of its potential repercussions on the rights of patients and the balance of the national health system.
In a press release addressed to national public opinion and legislative and executive decision-makers, the alliance considered that the project, which is presented within the framework of technical reform, essentially includes a deep and worrying amendment, which is to enable social funds and health insurance companies to establish and manage structures for examination, diagnosis, hospitalization and the provision of treatments. The statement, a copy of which was obtained by "HIBAPRESS," explained that this trend leads to a dangerous mixing of roles, where the insurer becomes at the same time a funder and provider of treatment, giving it the power to influence the patient's treatment course and the level of compensation, which, according to the alliance, contradicts the basic principles upon which any balanced and fair health system is based. The alliance pointed out that the risk associated with the project is not hypothetical, but real and tangible, as patients may find themselves, gradually, directed towards health institutions affiliated with insurance companies, through indirect mechanisms such as different compensation rates, care deadlines, or what is known as "recommended" treatment paths, making the freedom to choose a doctor or health institution a formal right rather than an effective one. The statement warned that combining the role of funder and the role of caregiver could turn the medical decision into a decision governed by financial considerations and the logic of reducing costs, at the expense of the patient's pure health interest, who may turn, in this context, from a person in need of treatment to a "cost" that must be controlled or a "value" that can be exploited. The alliance also noted that this vertical integration threatens the balance of the health system, by disrupting the rules of competition, and giving preference to major financial actors at the expense of doctors and independent institutions, which may lead to a gradual concentration of the sector, the exclusion of key players, and the imposition of a stereotype in treatments that does not take into account the specifics of patients or the requirements of quality human medicine. The trade union and professional alliance stressed that health "is not an ordinary market" and cannot be managed by the logic of profit alone, because it is linked to human dignity and to the trust between the doctor and the patient, and to a fundamental right guaranteed by the Kingdom's constitution. In this context, the alliance announced that it had sent official letters to a number of institutions and bodies, including the presidencies of the House of Representatives and the House of Counselors, the heads of the social sectors committees, the heads of the parliamentary groups, in addition to the Minister of Health and Social Protection, the President of the Competition Council, the Ombudsman of the Kingdom, and the President of the High Authority for Health, calling for an responsible discussion about this project. The statement concluded by calling on the public authorities to reconsider draft law 54.23 before its approval, in order to avoid the undesirable effects that may result from it, stressing that protecting the patient, ensuring the independence of the medical decision, and achieving justice within the health system must remain an absolute priority, and that the health of the citizen should not, under any circumstances, be turned into a financial product.
