The former number two in health in the Andalusian government signs a contract with a private insurance company three months after his resignation

The Andalusian government's deputy health minister until three months ago, Miguel Ángel Guzmán, has signed on to one of Spain's main private insurance companies, the ASISA Group, of which he is the new medical director in Andalusia.

His leap from the general to the specific, Developed by the series being This newspaper confirmed that it coincides with the moment of expansion of private insurance in Spain (especially in Andalusia) after the epidemic – for ordinary citizens who complete their right to free public health care.

The Socialist Workers' Party also confirmed this after learning of the signing of the former number two in health, and it coincides with the weakness of the public health system in Andalusia, which was tightened after the pandemic, and which had the clearest reflection in the expected fugitive lists. For patients to undergo surgery. Muñoz was the second-in-command to the current Minister of Health, Catalina García, and before that he was director of the Andalusian Health Authority (SAS) with his predecessor, the current President of Parliament, Jesús Aguirre. His dismissal, on 27 December, was accompanied by that of the SAS Director and was preceded by six senior officials who left the department, resigned or were sacked, in the midst of a waiting list management crisis.

Two weeks before the dismissal of the health leadership, the ministry published data on patients waiting for surgery – more than a million citizens, 12% of the population of Andalusia – and those who had exceeded the maximum legal period for surgery, a list that had increased by 227% in just one year.

Asisa Group, one of the country's largest private insurance companies, includes 50,000 specialists, 18 independent hospitals – more than a thousand subsidized centers – and three million insureds, according to its website. Last year, the company achieved its growth target both in the insurance sector, where it obtained a premium volume of 1,487.67 million euros, and in the healthcare sector, where its sales reached 615.2 million euros. In both cases, growth exceeded 4%, according to the group's data.

Guzmán denies that his transfer from the top management of Andalusian Public Health to a private insurance company, in just three months, entails any case of incompatibilities or revolving doors, as the socialists denounce, because Asesa does not currently have any contractual relationship with Andalusia. Government. Before joining the Ministry of Health, Guzmán had already worked in the private sector, where he worked for a mutual insurance company.

The management headed by Catalina Garcia has refused, for the time being, to evaluate the signing of the former number two.