Women chain themselves to defend that health plans bear more expenses

A group of approximately one hundred people, mostly women, held a protest this Wednesday afternoon (23) in front of the STJ (Superior Court of Justice), in Brasília.

The court resumes this Wednesday the judgment that will define whether health plan operators can be required to bear the expenses of procedures not included in the mandatory coverage list of the ANS (National Supplementary Health Agency).

The protesters defend that the list of ANS procedures is exemplary, that is, that the list of the regulatory agency works only as a minimum reference and that other obligations can be met by the plans from a medical request.

Supported by health plans, the contrary thesis provides a restrictive model, without the possibility of including therapies or tests not listed by the agency.

People participating in the protest are lined up in front of the fence that surrounds the STJ. They were tied together with chains. Posters are displayed with words like #RolTaxativoMata and #MamatadosConvêniosNo.

“If the STJ decides that this list is exhaustive, you won’t even be able to judicialize anymore [a necessidade de um procedimento médico”, disse a jornalista Andréa Werner, uma das organizadoras do protesto.

“Isso vai afetar usuários dos planos de saúde do Brasil inteiro, [que são] millions of people. And it will also affect the SUS, because to the extent that these people can no longer get treatments, exams, procedures through the plans, they go to the SUS. They will even judicialize the Union.”