Colombia Forum

Felipe58
Joined 2011
Posts: 443

1 year ago

EPS who should register?

1 year ago

When I came to Colombia 11yrs ago, I was on a Visa Pensionada, and had to register for EPS. I am in Antioquia, and was automatically registered with Confenalco, changing to SURA when they pulled out of the Department.
When registering, the Assessor, told us that all the talk of paying a percentage, now 12.5%, of your gross income was a load of bull, and you pay that percentage on your disposable income after all your bills are paid. I thought he was just trying to keep my bill down, and he was the one talking bull, so I kept my head down and my mouth shut hoping for the best.
It turns out he was nearly right...
Having read a post yesterday, which I can't locate again, I read about someone who said he was married, and registered his wife as the "Cotizante" and himself as the "Beneficiario", so the payment was based on his Wife's income or lack of it, and no consideration for his income, that peeked my interest.
As a result my Wife has been on the phone all day.
She has spoken to Asopagos; SURA; Ministerio de Salud; Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores, as a result it's going to be all change, but I will divulge some of what we learned on the way.
1. You do not pay 12.5% of your total income towards the Health System (EPS), it is on, up to 40% of your gross income, depending on your monthly outgoings, before you get excited, they put a limit on what they think each of your bills should be.
2. If you obtained your Visa Residente as a result of repeated Pensionada Visas, you have to continue being the "Cotizante", paying based on your income, as above.
3. If you obtained your Visa Residente as a result of Visa Cónyuge, then there is no barrier to changing the "Cotizante" to your wife, and you becoming the "Beneficiario". Our argument was that as I was the Cotizante, paying just for Health, my Wife as Beneficiario, was losing her pension entitlement, year on year, now we swap, and I will pay for my wife on salario mínimo, get the same Health cover, and pay her pension contribution, all for the same monthly payment, the immediate benefit will be the drop in Copago payments which will drop from 18900 to 4000 and the number of visits we make and prescriptions, that will soon add up. We have also confirmed that this will have no effect on my Plan Complementario (PAC) coverage, until they get rid of this under the reforms.
I hope this makes sense, and maybe of help to some. Don't ask for references, my Colombian Wife did all the research, I stayed well out of it.

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