One week before the second attempt to save Muface is resolved, the mutual society that allows one and a half million civil servants and their families to choose between private insurance financed with public funds and health, the Minister of Public Service, Óscar López, He has seemed hopeful. “The insurers are evaluating the offer, I hope they attend and that there will finally be a concert,” he said this Wednesday in an interview in Antenna 3.
The scenario, at this time, is once again uncertain. Adelas, which currently provides services to half a million civil servants, announced at the end of the year that it would not participate in the new Government tender, despite an increase in the premium of 33.5% in three years. The model, they said, is “economically unsustainable.” The second insurer by volume of mutual members, Asisa, is considering the possibility of presenting itself alone, something it had rejected in the first offer.
“We are making an unprecedented effort,” insisted López, who indicated that the Executive is “putting in an additional 1,000 million euros to finance Muface, money from all citizens, from the General State Budgets, to finance private health insurance.” one and a half million citizens. “Everyone’s money.” In total, the agreement that the insurers are now analyzing represents a total amount of 4.5 billion euros over three years.
López also recalled that this conflict does not affect all officials. “One out of every 3 has Muface and 2 out of every 3 does not have Muface,” he quantified. Specifically, career officials in ministries and civil servants such as teachers are entitled to private insurance covered with public funds, but not health personnel or local civil servants. Furthermore, according to ministry data, two out of every three new mutual members opt for public healthcare.
The open crisis and the gradual reduction in the number of civil servants who opt for private insurance has made the Public Service open to the need to rethink the model. “There is a pending reflection, after this agreement is signed, because it is a very old model that accumulates certain imperfections and there are things that can be improved,” López said. A message that he already conveyed in December to the Finance and Public Service Commission in Congress: “Do you think Muface is perfect? Believe me, it’s not. Does it require reforms? Believe me, it requires them.”
While the new tender is being resolved, in which insurers will be able to submit until January 15, the Public Service activated the extension of the current agreement on December 28, which enables the Public Sector Contract Law. The extension is made “on an exceptional and temporary basis, from January 1, 2025 and for the time essential to complete the bidding process for the subsequent contract,” according to the continuity order.
The insurers Adeslas, Asisa and DKV, which were already obliged by the contract to provide assistance until December 31, must now continue to do so “under the same terms and conditions initially agreed upon” until the agreement is resolved, although the text estimates that This will be for a maximum period of 3 months. Although some ministerial voices had hinted that this extension would occur with the same economic conditions agreed in 2022, which added extra pressure on the companies, it will finally be done under the terms offered for the next triennium. In total, Muface estimates that this expansion will involve a maximum amount of 343 million euros.
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