According to “Akhbar Al Youm” agency:
The financial crisis that has afflicted Lebanon for four years, doctors were not spared from it, as their great suffering prompted many of them to emigrate forcibly, especially after the deterioration of their financial conditions, so they were between the bonds of the guarantor companies and the hammer of hospitals, as for their rights and fees, they are withheld!…to! This reality has begun to change gradually, and the balance is tilting in favor of doctors after the agreement that was concluded by the Doctors Syndicate and the insurance companies (medical administration companies TPA), which was signed last Monday.
First of all, Youssef Bakhash, the head of the Beirut Medical Association, indicated through the “Akhbar Al-Youm” agency that there are two types of guarantee funds, private funds (i.e. insurance companies) or official guarantee funds, in their medical and hospital coverage, the patient and the doctor alike pay the price.
He explained that the official funds, the latter in most of them, cannot carry out the financial duties incurred by them, whether for doctors or hospitals, although they raised the tariff, as the Social Security Fund raised the tariff two and a half times, and the Ministry of Health six times, but the numbers remain low compared to need. As for the insurance companies, unfortunately, the patient affiliated with them in his health coverage was forced to bear the largest percentage of the hospital bill, until the Doctors Syndicate entered the line and dealt with this crisis and reached a solution.
In the details, Bakhash explains that after long rams of negotiations with private insurance companies that lasted about 8 months, we reached an understanding that is the first of its kind in the history of the Doctors Syndicate, which succeeded in withdrawing the file of the fee allowance from the hands of the hospitals and it became in the custody of the Syndicate, after it was under the domination of Hospitals that used to sign contracts with insurance companies or guarantors, which determine the value of fees and discounts.
He said: With regard to doctors, we consider that we have reached a solution that protects the doctor and gives him a kind of stability and encourages him to stay in Lebanon. Rather, it motivates the immigrant doctor to return, and he mentions that last year the doctor used to receive 50% of his fees in fresh dollars (specifically with regard to Surgical operations) and the remaining 50% does not receive anything from it. We have reached with the insurance companies that the doctor gets 75% of his fees in Fresh.
Here, the companies wanted to stop at this ceiling, which was rejected by the union, and continued negotiations that led to the doctor obtaining 70% in the first eight months of the year 2023, and in the remaining four months he gets 85%. This percentage rises to 100% in the year 2024, reaching 105% in the year 2025, and every 3 years the percentage increases by four points, meaning in the year 2028 the percentage the doctor gets is 109.
And stressing that this agreement is in the doctor’s interest, Bakhash also pointed out that the insurance companies undertake to pay the dues within 3 months – and this was what did not happen previously, as the delay exceeded six months – if it was not paid within 3 months, then it is an advance of 80% and within A period of one month, you pay the remaining 20%.
Bakhash stressed that this agreement comes from the union’s future vision and planning, and the doctor feels that there is a union that cares about him and defends his rights and income, and recovers his money, noting that the financial part is one of the most prominent reasons that prompted many doctors to emigrate, especially after he became a doctor He receives fictitious money “lollar in the bank,” stressing that the goal has been achieved, as the doctor has regained his dignity and is now the one who decides his financial fate.
And what about hospitals? Bakhash replied: There is a similar agreement between them and the private guarantor companies that also created a kind of stability between the two parties, but the priority remains by giving priority to the doctor to collect 100% of his fees in a faster manner, after the latter was the weakest link in the hospitalization cycle.
And what is the fate of the patient? Bakhash asserted that we also protected his rights, explaining that even if a law allows us to charge the patient directly and give him the bill to collect from the guarantors, we refused to resort to this option because we do not want to put the patient in confrontation with the admission office in the hospital or With the insurance companies, so the payment remains directly from the guarantor companies to the doctor.
He concluded: We adhere to the Hippocratic Oath and to our humanitarian professional mission.
