Lisbon Mayor Carlos Moedas (PSD) on Monday called on the municipal assembly to approve a plan for free health care for citizens over 65 years of age to come into effect on January 1, 2023.
“Every day that goes by without this plan being approved here in this assembly is another day that the people of Lisbon will not have this health plan, and for us to get the health plan up and running on January 1, we are already in some sense belated.” , said Carlos Moedas at a hearing in the Lisbon Municipal Assembly as part of the evaluation of the Lisbon 65+ health plan proposal.
The proposal, approved by the mayor of Lisbon, who rules without an absolute majority, was approved by the city council’s executive branch on October 24 thanks to the abstentions of five PS councilors in the vote for the seven elected city councilors. Novos Tempos Coalition (PSD/CDS-PP/MPT/PPM/Aliança) and votes against the rest of the opposition, namely two from PCP, one from BE, one from Livre and one from independent councilor Cidadãos por Lisboa (elected by PS coalition /livre).
For its implementation, the proposal must be evaluated and voted by the Municipal Assembly of Lisbon, the advisory and supervisory body of the activities of the municipality, therefore, the municipal deputies contributed to the hearing of the mayor and have already sent out invitations to hear the partner organizations of the Lisbon 65+ health plan, so that they can form an opinion on the initiative, whose rapporteur is Bruno Mascarenhas from Chega.
The health plan provides free support to 130,000 Lisbon residents over 65 years of age with “telemedicine services available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, home health care in cases of need indicated and ambulance transport in case of indication.” doctor at home.
In addition, the offer includes specific assistance for the 5,000 recipients of the solidarity allowance for the elderly, such as free access to oral hygiene and optometry consultations, dentures and glasses.
To implement the plan, the municipality has signed protocols with the Regional Directorate of Health of Lisbon and the Tagus Valley and with the Institute of Social Security to exchange information about users over 65 years of age and those who receive a surcharge. and also with the National Association of Pharmacies, the Faculty of Dental Medicine of the University of Lisbon, also foreseeing the participation of Santa Casa da Misericordia de Lisbon and the Social Services of the Lisbon City Council.
To municipal deputies, the mayor of Lisbon reiterated that the health plan “will not replace, but complement” the National Health Service (SNS), pointing out that “there is nothing ideological in it” but will help people access health care. care, free of charge, through the construction of a local welfare state.
Carlos Moedas stressed that the health plan will be coordinated with the SNS, but “this is not a family doctor”, the teleconsultation service should offer a “friendly doctor’s voice” on a toll-free phone number after registration. elderly in pharmacies, and if necessary, the doctor goes to the house, also free of charge.
The health plan, to be implemented in 2023, 2024 and 2025, provides for a budget of about 1.5 million euros per year, of which 600 thousand euros to provide teleconsultation services and home health care, part of which “This cannot be done through government services. because public services do not offer health insurance plans,” the mayor said, adding that public providers would provide the rest of the services.
When asked if there were limits on the number of teleconsultations and other services provided, the mayor assured that “unlimited”, although the budget cannot exceed 600 thousand euros: this service will do it at this price, unlimited, for anything. This is the risk that this operator, that is, he risks that more services will be done for him, but this is his problem, this is not a problem with the camera.
In this context, the chamber is advising all companies that provide services to the Portuguese market health insurance plan, which will consist of eight companies, to conclude contracts in accordance with the Code of Public Contracts, Carlos Moedas said, assuring that doctors will provide services. “with all the quality required by law” and “everything will be respected in terms of data protection” of older people.
The health plan was one of the election promises of the Novos Tempos coalition in the 2021 municipal elections, in which Carlos Moedas managed to win the post of mayor of Lisbon by defeating the previous president, Fernando Medina (PS).
Author: Portuguese
Source: CM Jornal
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