The House of Representatives approved on Tuesday night the reform to the health system presented nine months ago before the Congress of the Republic by the Government of Gustavo Petro. After almost 10 hours of discussion, the majority of the Plenary voted in favor of three articles and eliminated two, thus completing the last five that were needed to successfully complete the long process of the project in the Chamber. To be approved, the legislative initiative that proposes a profound change in the health system in Colombia received the key support of the Liberal Party and the U Party, in addition to the sure votes of the Historical Pact, the Comunes Party, the representatives of victims and some members of the Green Party, who have always supported the Government.
The president’s flagship reform, which seeks to transform the EPS into health managers and allow the State to manage the sector’s resources and pay hospitals, clinics and service providers directly, will now have to face two new obstacles to finally become in law. First, it will have to be approved in the Seventh Committee of the Senate, where the Government has several like-minded senators, and then in the Plenary, in which much stronger opposition is expected.
In this Tuesday’s session in the Chamber, in which the Minister of the Interior, Luis Fernando Velasco, and the Minister of Health, Guillermo Alfonso Jaramillo, were present, articles 122 and 123 were approved by an absolute majority, which give extraordinary powers to the president. of the Republic. The Government managed to obtain 99 positive votes, of the 94 it required, compared to the 23 negative votes of the opposition, which little by little left the premises, as it has done in recent weeks.
These two articles allow the president to “issue regulations with the force of law” that are agreed upon with the communities through prior consultation, “to change the Indigenous and Intercultural Health System.” They will also serve to regulate the intercultural health model in territories of Raizal, Palenquera, Rrom, black and Afro-Colombian communities. One of the speakers of the reform, representative Alfredo Mondragón, celebrated this triumph in his X account: “Great support for the Health Reform! With 99 votes, a qualified majority, in the Chamber we have just approved extraordinary powers to President Petro, to issue regulations that will guarantee prior consultation with ethnic peoples on the management of the health system.”
Minutes after this resounding victory, which finally demonstrated the Government’s majorities to approve the reform, the representatives of the Historical Pact themselves proposed eliminating article 128, which gave extraordinary powers to the president to capitalize the New EPS, a mixed ownership entity. . They sank it to avoid an additional obstacle that could have complicated the approval of the reform.
Later, amidst hugs, applause and shouts of joy, the representatives approved article 143. The discussion continued to focus on article 42, which has generated controversy in recent days because it allows mayors and governors to elect directors at their discretion. of the hospitals. In the end, the plenary decided to sink this article with 57 votes for no and 53 for yes.
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Although the Government lost two of the last five articles in the last session, it managed to approve the entire reform. With this result, Gustavo Petro obtains his first major victory in Congress related to his three most important reforms: health, labor and pension reforms.
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