'Fraud': Petro vehemently addresses former Nueva EPS executives after CGR report

This Friday, September 12, President Gustavo Petro delivered another speech, in which he openly accused former members of the Nueva EPS Board of Directors of providing falsified figures about the health entity.

The context of his speech relates to the report submitted by the Comptroller General's Office , which warns of irregularities in the management of advance payments, the billing of health services, the contracting of providers, and the establishment of technical reserves, totaling billions of dollars.

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According to the entity's document, the value of pending advances to be legalized increased from $3.4 billion to $8.6 billion between 2023 and 2024 , an increase of 155% .

'Fraud'

Gustavo Petro began by presenting these figures as proof that the financial situation of Nueva EPS is, in his opinion, a "huge theft from the healthcare system in Colombia." He also mentioned that the entity, since its inception, has had a "history of theft ."

" Almost since its first affiliation, it has had a history of theft. Small while it grew, until it became the largest EPS in Colombia. What the comptroller shows us is that in recent years (…) there has continually been a mechanism that has allowed the State's money for the health of members to be taken to some contractors, it's always the same ones (…), to the owners of Colombia's health care and some powerful politicians who keep the bribes ," he said.

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Petro accused the Board of Directors and the previous president of the health care provider of providing falsified data, pointing out that the EPS had liabilities for 6.6 billion pesos, when the National Government had found that these were for more than $11 billion.

" If they didn't pay $5 billion, is it because they didn't have the money or spent it on something else? That's the point of the investigation." The president pointed to the compensation funds, which own the majority of the EPS (as we will explain later): instead of discussing his reform proposal, he said, they decided "in 2023 to exceed the costs they had in previous years by 70% ," he stated.

The president also mentioned that all the country's EPS should be under state control: " Their funding comes from all the country's salaried workers. That is, they are not private either (…) Those are the owners of the EPS ."

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According to the president, " two million invoices were hidden to cover up the failure of the Nueva EPS. They defrauded the state and harmed Colombians. It wasn't a mistake, it was fraud against the people's health. Today it is being exposed and addressed ."

" What the comptroller shows us is that in recent years, there has continually been a mechanism that has allowed the state's money, for the health of members, to be diverted to contractors, who are always the same, to the owners of Colombia's health care system and to powerful politicians who keep the bribes ," he added.

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