"Mi Salud"

Eighteen years ago (1993) the government of Puerto Rico performed a major operation on its public health system. Mainly, it gave people in economic need the opportunity to access private health services, with public funding.

Since then, there have been over 11 transformations of this initiative called "La Reforma de Salud" (The Health Reform). The latest effort took place the past October. It was  renamed "Mi Salud".

Many obstacles have arisen since then. For example, just several days ago the government decided to terminate the contract with one of the two health insurance companies (MCS) that run the physical health coverage. This has caused a great amount of uncertainty among the 850,000 patients  that are covered by this company as well as among the health care providers hired to give services to the insured persons under the "Mi Salud" project. The transition period towards another company or companies that will substitute the health insurance coverage  runned by this company (MCS)  is supposed to last 90 days.

Also, as recent as this week, the government announced that the agency that administrates the project of "Mi Salud" -called "Administración de Seguros de Salud"-  is under a financial crisis. This has created a great deal of unsteadiness upon the whole project of "Mi Salud".

Do the financing model and the services program of "Mi Salud" go hand in hand or do they overlap and collide with one another? Is "Mi Salud" meeting the health needs of its 1.4 million enrollees? This are questions that need to be answered.