The health of civil servants is not a game: in defense of MUFACE

November 10 2024 (09:03 WET)

The MUFACE mutual members are very concerned that the companies are not willing to continue with the agreement for 2025-2026. The current one expires on December 31.

There are more than enough reasons for concern among the more than one and a half million MUFACE mutual members and beneficiaries, of whom, at the national level, more than 74 percent prefer private healthcare. Every year, mutual members can choose between the public or private healthcare system, and within the latter, they have the possibility of choosing the company that suits them best. This is a right they have had for 50 years and it has worked well. In addition, the healthcare agreement system saves the State a lot of money, as a private option mutual member is much cheaper than a public healthcare user.

On the 5th, the Government offered a 17 percent increase to the companies, which, according to the Minister of Public Function Óscar López, was the largest increase in history. This increase did not satisfy the companies, as the State had not been contributing what it should to maintain the agreement system for several years. The tender has been declared void and the Government has stated that it will launch an "express tender", which will be a failure if it does not offer more attractive conditions for the companies. If this tender is not successful, time will have been wasted and a considerable number of mutual members and beneficiaries will move to a public healthcare system that is already saturated and has long waiting lists.

We must not allow MUFACE to die because the necessary money for its survival is not provided. We must not allow administrative mutualism to die of 'starvation'. The agreement system is collaborative and more economical for the State coffers. From CSIF we have been warning for some time of underfunding, of economic asphyxiation.

Back in 2010, President Zapatero dealt a severe blow to mutualism, to the extent that officials from state bodies who obtained a position in competitions after January 1, 2011, would move to the General Social Security Regime in terms of pensions, although social protection would still be provided by MUFACE.

We are going to fight with mobilizations so that the General Mutual Society of Civil Servants of the State (MUFACE) continues to provide social protection to the civil servants of state bodies. The mutual society has been providing a good service for five decades. The absorption of this civil servant group would be destabilizing for the public healthcare system. This circumstance would lead to a greater collapse than there already is. The first services to accuse it would be those of Primary Care.

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