August 31 marked a year since the launch of Copago Cero (Zero Copayment), the government initiative that has made universal healthcare free for the more than 16 million National Health Fund (FONASA) users in the public system.
Thanks to Copago Cero, one million people saved more than $100 billion Chilean pesos (US$113 million) in out-of-pocket expenses between September 2022 and August 2023.
This represents an average amount of $100,000 pesos (US$113) saved per user.
Figures after a year of Copago Cero
989,001 people have benefited from Copago Cero to July 2023. The use percentage per tier is as follows:
- Tier B: 40,505 people, corresponding to 4.3% of the total.
- Tier C: 404,777 people, corresponding to 41.1% of the total.
- Tier D: 543,718 people, corresponding to 54.6% of the total.
The amount saved by users to last August reached $106 billion pesos (US$120 million), an average of $105,583 pesos (US$119) per user, according to information provided by the Health Ministry via FONASA and the Health Statistics and Information Department (DEIS).
55% of beneficiaries were women, while the same percentage were tier D FONASA users.
Tier A and B FONASA users were already able to access free healthcare, with the exception of dental care. Everybody over 60 years of age can now access this benefit.
The regions with the highest number of beneficiaries were:
- Metropolitan Region: 324,091 people.
- Valparaíso Region: 103,546 people.
- Biobío Region: 100,427 people.