Health reform: proposal submitted for third debate in the Senate's Seventh Committee

On the morning of Monday, June 16 , the positive proposal for the third debate on health care reform was submitted to the Seventh Committee of the Senate of the Republic.

The document was signed by Senators Martha Peralta (Historic Pact - MAIS), Omar Restrepo (Commons), Fabián Díaz (Green Alliance), Wilson Arias (Historic Pact) and Ferney Silva (Historic Pact - Colombia Humana).

We have submitted a proposal for health care reform, along with Senators Omar Restrepo, Fabián Díaz, Wilson Arias, and Ferney Silva. We are now ready to begin the debate in the Senate's Seventh Committee," Senator Peralta said on her X account.

He added: "We will remain committed to seeking consensus that will make a real transformation of our health system possible."

With the submission of this motion, the third debate on the bill, one of the main legislative initiatives of President Gustavo Petro's administration, is expected to begin in the second half of next year .

The initiative still has two debates remaining: one in the Senate's Seventh Committee and, if approved there, one in the Senate's plenary session.

However, the outlook for this reform is guarded. This is because the next step is the same one that ultimately led to the collapse of the first attempt at health care reform. The Senate's Seventh Committee already served as the executioner of that first attempt, so the same thing cannot be ruled out this time around.

Six members of that legislative body have already announced their opposition to the official initiative . They are Nadia Blel and Esperanza Andrade (Conservative Party), Honorio Enríquez and Alirio Barrera (Democratic Center), Miguel Ángel Pinto (Liberal Party), and Berenice Bedoya (ASI). The congressmen argue that the initiative of President Gustavo Petro's government does not resolve the system's problems.

“The health care reform is even more serious than last year's. When we scuttled the reform a year ago, they told us they were going to show us the pilot model, the model, so we could see how wrong we were. They established it with the teachers, and now you can see the state of the teachers' health care system, and they are asking for their system back,” Senator Pinto warned.

Given this scenario, the bill is just one vote away from being defeated, as the negative votes would reach seven, and the Executive Branch would only manage to muster seven votes in favor. Although it is a tie, according to Congressional rules, when this occurs, neither proposal would be accepted, and the bill would be defeated.

Those holding the project's future in their hands are Lorena Ríos (Colombia Justa Libres) and Ana Paola Agudelo (Mira), who also defeated the same reform a year ago and, two months ago, voted against the labor reform.

It's also worth remembering that the Senate has been a particularly difficult venue for government reforms, being the one where not only the first attempt at health reform foundered, but also the labor reform (now revived).

With the completion of the technical roundtables, which began in April, as well as the various public hearings between April and May, the next step will be the scheduling of the third debate.

This debate can be scheduled starting July 20th. This is taking into account that the current legislative session ends this week, and Congress goes on a month-long recess. Thus, the discussion is expected to continue into the second half of the year.

MATEO CHACÓN ORDUZ | Deputy Editor, Today's Life