University of Chile Reports Findings in COVID-19 (COVID-19 pandemic and mental healthcare: Impact on health insurance with guaranteed universal access in Chile): Coronavirus – COVID-19

2023 FEB 07 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at NewsRx COVID-19 Daily -- New research on Coronavirus - COVID-19 is the subject of a report. According to news reporting originating from Santiago, Chile, by NewsRx correspondents, research stated, “Universal health coverage (UHC) is a goal of the member states of the United Nations. The negative impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on mental health, inequalities in access to care, and financing gaps set a problematic scenario for universal mental health coverage.”

Our news editors obtained a quote from the research from the University of Chile, “In Latin America, depression and anxiety disorders have increased by more than 30%. Chile implemented a reform for UHC in 2005 generating a mandatory guaranteed plan for health insurance (GES) that covers schizophrenia, depression, bipolar disorders, and Alzheimer’s disease. We assume that the pandemic increased cases of mental illness in GES of public and private insurance. This study aimed to explore the effects of the pandemic on the use of the GES mental health plan of public and private insurance. A descriptive analysis of secondary data from public and private insurance on the use and expenditure of the GES plan in mental illness between 2005 and 2020 was carried out. An aggregate analysis of the use of psychiatric consultations without a guaranteed plan and sick leave was performed. Between 2005 and 2020, 18.5% of GES cases corresponded to four mental health illnesses (1,682,021 cases). Public insurance covered 80% of cases. In the pandemic, cases of mental illness fell by 10.5% in public insurance and 28.7% in private ones, reducing spending by 33 and 6.2%, respectively. Psychiatric consultations without using the GES plan doubled in 2020 in private insurance, and medical discharges due to mental illness also increased. Leave due to mental illness increased by 20% in both types of insurance. The results suggest that the demand for mental healthcare increased during the pandemic, but public and private health insurance reduced admissions to the GES universal plan for schizophrenia, depression, and bipolar disorder.”

According to the news editors, the research concluded: “A universal guaranteed plan in an individual contribution system can have essential weaknesses for people when the principles of social security are not complied with, especially concerning the solidarity of the health insurance system.”

For more information on this research see: COVID-19 pandemic and mental healthcare: Impact on health insurance with guaranteed universal access in Chile. Frontiers in Public Health, 2023;10:1005033. Frontiers in Public Health can be contacted at: Frontiers Media Sa, Avenue Du Tribunal Federal 34, Lausanne, Ch-1015, Switzerland.

The news editors report that additional information may be obtained by contacting Gonzalo Leyton, School of Public Health, Faculty of Medicine, University of Chile, Santiago, Chile.

The direct object identifier (DOI) for that additional information is: https://doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2022.1005033. This DOI is a link to an online electronic document that is either free or for purchase, and can be your direct source for a journal article and its citation.

Publisher contact information for the journal Frontiers in Public Health is: Frontiers Media Sa, Avenue Du Tribunal Federal 34, Lausanne, Ch-1015, Switzerland.

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