The
Independent Association of Dentists (AIMD) sent the following letter to
Cristina Ferreira, with a view to her partnership with Medicare:
Exma. Ms. Cristina Ferreira, Ambassador for Medicare,
The Independent Association of Dentists (AIMD) was born
under the pressing need to fight for professional dignity and
valorization of Dentistry. One of its action plans is to expose the
subterfuge of insurers and health plans, constituting representation and
spokesperson in the dialogue and negotiation with these entities, and
striving for the implementation of representatives in their medical
councils with the title of dentists.
In our understanding and that of all colleagues,
Medicare, the health plan that you represent through the position of
ambassador, induces the practice of dumping in oral health. A health
plan that offers its customers the possibility of carrying out free
medical acts and others below cost is a dishonest and defrauding
practice. Did you know that Medicare offers its customers 20 dental acts
and / or treatments? We calculate that it is of your knowledge, seen so
vehemently advertising to which it is directly associated.
Since healthcare professionals are not paid for these
medical acts, namely through Medicare reimbursement, how do you expect
clinics to carry out these medical acts without prejudice to operating
and material costs? How do you expect health professionals to be paid
for their work? So that this point is not too abstract, we exemplify one
of Medicare's free medical acts and the cost of material involved:
Monoradicular tooth extraction (“tooth extraction”); cost of running the
clinic (eg electricity, water); user protection material (eg surgical
cloth or bib); compresses, hemostatic sponges; chemical and thermal
conditioning and sterilization of the material; dentist working
time,dental assistant and other clinical staff.
Are you aware that the Code of Ethics of the Portuguese
Dental Association prohibits the carrying out of free medical acts? We
now cite Article 39 of the same: “1- Dental medicine is by nature an
activity with inherent costs, for which pecuniary consideration is
freely fixed, and free professional acts cannot be practiced in a
generalized or regular manner, except when covered by the legal regime
of volunteering and when the rules of this Code and the OMD Statute are
respected ”.
What we intend to bring to your attention is that you
are an ambassador and publicize a health plan that violates the
deontology of Dental Medicine and promotes the economy of scale
associated with the Health area. It is not possible for health
professionals to practice free and have no detriment to their
livelihood. Basically, you are representing and advertising a health
plan that induces the exploitation of dentists and contributes to your
precarious work.
Did you know that dentists turned to the Food Bank
against Hunger? Are you aware of Medicare's numerous policyholder
complaints? Do you know that in the Complaint Portal, in the last twelve
months, there have been almost a thousand complaints submitted against
Medicare, namely for contractual irregularities and fraud?
Through a news item published in the magazine “Vidas”, it came to our attention that
Medicare presented the Lady with a 2018 Porsche Panamera E-Hybrid, for its partnership with this entity. To
make it clear, this asset, which now belongs to its alleged fleet, is
the symbol of exploration in Health. For dentists, Medicare and any
health plan that promotes the practice of dumping are one of the cancers
in the Health area Is this the public image that Ms. Cristina Ferreira
wants to be associated with? We leave you with this appeal: ask yourself if you see yourself in what Medicare stands for; if you would like to work and not be paid for your work, and still have a loss. Not everything is worth in life.
6 July, 2020
