Panel SA: A retrospective of the health plan sector has a high number of beneficiaries and price pressure

The ANS (National Supplementary Health Agency) released on Monday (27) a balance of the health plans market this year, marked by the arrival of vaccines and Paulo Roberto Rebello as CEO until 2024.

In retrospect, the agency highlighted that the number of beneficiaries has risen. The first seven months of 2021 also registered a 42% increase in the portability of grace periods compared to the same period in 2020.

Data from November show almost 49 million beneficiaries in health care plans, 2.8% more than in November 2020 and the highest since March 2016. The demand for dental plans also rose and yielded growth of 9.3%.

According to ANS, the year will also be remembered for the first negative readjustment in the monthly fees of individual or family health plans, from -8.19% for the period from May 2021 to April 2022.

The agency, however, does not highlight in its retrospective the charges it received during the year by representatives of consumer rights, especially in relation to Prevent Senior during the pandemic, a topic that ended up in the CPI in the Senate. In October, the ANS appointed a director to identify procedural abnormalities that could jeopardize assistance to the operator’s beneficiaries. In November, Idec (Brazilian Consumer Protection Institute) asked ANS that the final report of the technical direction regime at Prevent Senior be made public.

The agency also came under pressure from Procon, which this year intensified efforts to combat the increase in prices in collective plans (which represent the largest share of the market, but are not subject to the readjustment limit practiced in individual plans). The agency also complains about the lack of transparency in the expenses of the operators.

with Ana Paula Branco