Just 27% of the population of the Federal District has access to a health plan, i.e. the equivalent of 930,347 beneficiaries. The data comes from the Institute of Supplementary Health Studies (IESS) survey, conducted in February this year.

Despite the low index, compared to the same period last year, there has been an increase in the number of memberships. In 2022 they were 921 554 beneficiaries – about 8,000 fewer people than registered this year.

According to IESS Executive Superintendent José Cechin, the DF figures draw attention to an increase in the number of people joining individual health plans, unlike what is happening in the rest of the country.

“What may have happened in the Federal District is that some officials who had direct administration plans, who were not counted as beneficiaries of health plans by the regulatory agency, migrated to plans that are regulated,” he says.

According to the survey, access to health plans in DF is increasing as there is also growth in formal employment rates in the capital.

The values ​​of health plans tend to weigh in the choice of users, as for the professor of public education at the DF, Lourival Aguiar.

For barbecue chef José Queiroz, the health plan is “every Brazilian’s dream”. “But we don’t have it. We have to live, unfortunately, on public health, on this suffering that you know what it is,” he says.

Saleswoman Talita Silva wants to buy health insurance for her son, but she has no financial conditions at the moment. “He is in need, but the grace period is six months, and the values ​​are very high. At the moment we don’t have the conditions,” he says.

According to the superintendent of the Brazilian Association of Health Plans, Marcos Novais, another increase, not yet defined, is expected, which should be announced in May. The rationale for the plans is that they recorded a loss last year of R$11.5 billion.

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