BE accuses government of wanting to ‘increase numbers’ of users without a GP

The Left Bloc (BE) this Wednesday questioned the government about its intention to exclude emigrants from the lists of users of social networks, accusing the executive of doing this in order to “reduce the number of users who do not have a family doctor.”

Several doctors working in primary health care services told Lusa that they had been told that from January 1, Portuguese people with a tax address outside Portugal would be considered “inactive” and would have to pay for the care they received.

In a question addressed to the government, the BE parliamentary group inquired about the reasons for the decision, asking whether it considered the measure “totally contrary to the basic health law and therefore illegal.”

“With this decision, which could come into force at the beginning of 2024, the government has only one goal: to reduce the number of users who do not have a family doctor. All Portuguese citizens, moreover, cannot deny the right to health. Therefore, it must be abandoned immediately. Since it is illegal and can have serious consequences, such an intention must be abandoned immediately. All Portuguese citizens are beneficiaries of the SNS and should have full access to it. Government inventions that remove this right are unacceptable,” the document says.

With this decision, BE argues, the government will deprive expats of “the right to a universal and free social network that is also theirs” by using “art” to address the “notorious failure to solve the problem of access to healthcare”, in particular in relation to 1.7 million users, without a family doctor, and “to mask the blatant failure of their health care policies.”

“The problem is that this government ploy to disguise shameful figures will have a very negative impact on the lives of thousands and thousands of Portuguese men and women who, although living abroad, are users of social networks. According to this decision, these Portuguese Citizens can no longer have a family doctor and they may have to pay in full for all medical services that they can carry out in the SNS,” criticized BE.

Bloch considers this an “unconditional decision”, wondering how many Portuguese expats do not continue to see their family doctors, using their visits to Portugal for this purpose, and how many of them prefer to be treated in Portugal. , even because they do not have access to quality healthcare systems in the countries where they live.

“Why does the government want these beneficiaries of social networks, because they are also like that, to be deprived of the right to access healthcare, deprived of a universal, universal and free system? Why does the government want these Portuguese, who should be citizens and full users, to start fully supporting all healthcare in the SNA? It’s something without a head and shoulders. This does not respect what the basic law says about who are the beneficiaries of the SNA and about their rights,” he said. He also criticized BE.

The classification of Portuguese expats as “inactive” in the National Health Service (SNS) has angered members of the community, who criticize above all the lack of information about the measure, which begins in January.