The company Prevent Senior asked the National Supplementary Health Agency (ANS), on November 18, to suspend the sale of 27 of its health plans.
“We are going to focus our efforts on serving our 550,000 beneficiaries because we were victims of the political system,” said, in a statement, the entrepreneur and CEO of Prevent Senior, Fernando Parrillo.
According to ANS, the interruption of sales will only be authorized 30 days after the request. The regulatory agency explained that, until December 18, Prevent Senior will not be able to refuse entry to any consumer.
“If, on December 18, there are operators undergoing a special or extraordinary portability process, and Prevent Senior is the destination option for the beneficiaries of these operators, the suspension of the plans will not be authorized until the deadlines for said portability are concluded”, added the ANS.
In a note, Prevent Senior highlighted that it will only maintain the sale of its Premium plan, “valid throughout Brazil with an average value of up to R$1,828”.
“If we have a new wave of the pandemic, this growth would be greater”, said the company’s CEO, noting that, in 2022, “Prevent would increase its portfolio by 20%”.
ANS already pointed out that, when authorized to suspend the 27 plans as requested by the operator, Prevent Senior will continue with 5 active health plans in the cities and states in which it operates.
“Three [planos] individual contracting and two collective business contracting. It is important to emphasize that the service to the current beneficiaries of the operator must be guaranteed and offered normally”, concludes the note from the agency.
The Public Ministry set up a task force to investigate the actions of Prevent Senior during the pandemic, and the application of drugs called “Kit Covid”, which have been proven to be ineffective against Covid-19.
In statements given to the police, on November 23, in São Paulo, the directors of the company, Roberto Sá and Cleber Rocha, denied that the operator had committed irregularities in the treatment of patients infected with the coronavirus.
The directors were heard by two at the Department of Homicide and Personal Protection (DHPP), in downtown São Paulo, as witnesses.
On October 10, the City Council of São Paulo also installed an investigation into the company’s activities in the city of São Paulo in dealing with the pandemic.
One of the suspicions of the “CPI of Prevent Senior” is that, to reduce the amount of records of the pandemic, the operator would have acted so that patients with Covid-19 did not have the disease recorded in their medical records. In cases of death, the information would also not appear on the death certificates.
Last November 18, the Commission heard doctors who work or have worked at Prevent. Carla Morales Godoy Guerra, who is no longer with the company, said there was a group orientation to prescribe the widespread use of hydroxychloroquine to treat patients with Covid-19.
From Sarney to Bolsonaro, tradition of CPIs shapes democratic relations in Brazil:
Reference: CNN Brasil
