Minister Armando Benedetti says the health reform debate will begin next Tuesday: "I believe the vote will be quick."

Five months after being approved by the House of Representatives plenary session, the health reform will be debated in Senate Committee VII . This was announced Tuesday by Interior Minister Armando Benedetti, who, through his X account, stated that Miguel Ángel Pinto, president of that legislative cell, confirmed to him that everything is ready to begin the discussion.

“Miguel Angel Pinto confirms to me that the debate on the much-needed Health Reform will begin next Tuesday. It has been in the Senate's Seventh Committee since April 2nd, and will be discussed five months later. I believe the vote will be swift because they have had time to study it. Health care is in the hands of the Senate's Seventh Committee,” he wrote.

But beyond that phrase, the truth is that Senate Committee VII has become a bulwark against the government's social reforms. In that legislative body, the majority is opposition, as evidenced by the election of the liberal Pinto as president, who obtained 8 of the 14 votes.

There, in April 2024, the health reform collapsed after nine senators voted to shelve the initiative, leaving the government with only four votes in favor.

The labor reform suffered the same fate in March of this year, although it was revived by the plenary session and ultimately approved. This occurred after the government's move to promote a referendum, which, despite being rejected by the Senate, the Nariño Senate insisted on proceeding via a decree until the initiative passed its fourth debate.

So far, the ruling party's only victory in that legislative body was in June 2023, when the pension reform was greenlit in its first debate. At that time, some of the coalition, which the President himself dissolved in April of that year, still remained.

"The Seventh Committee of @SenadoGovCo has the opportunity to act with all its heart and process a reform that restores health as a fundamental right for Colombians," said Labor Minister Antonio Sanguino.

The proposal, which will be debated in committee, was signed in June by Senators Martha Peralta, Ferney Silva, and Wilson Arias of the Historic Pact; Omar de Jesús Restrepo of Comunes; and Fabián Díaz of the Green Alliance party.

Among other things, it proposes transforming EPSs into Health and Life Management Companies without resource management, transferring control of funds to Adres, and creating Caps as the first level of care.

The debate will take place amid the system's crisis, when Keralty denounced the "devastating damage" caused by the intervention in Sanitas and after the Comptroller's Office warned about the dire financial situation of Nueva EPS.

CAMILO A. CASTILLOPolitical EditorX: (@camiloandres894)