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The Committee notes the adoption of the new general social security system for health care, for which the structure and rules are established by Act No. 100 of 1993 on the social security system, as amended by Decree No. 1298 of 22 June 1994 and the regulations issued thereunder (Decrees Nos. 1919 and 1938 of 1994). The objective of the system is to establish conditions under which the whole population has access to the public health service. Health Care Providers (EPS) are responsible for the affiliation and registration of insured persons and the collection of contributions. In exchange, they are under the obligation to provide insured persons with the benefits guaranteed under the Compulsory Health Plan (POS) either directly or through institutions which provide health care services. The EPS may be public bodies, such as the Social Security Institute, or private or mixed entities and have to be recognized by the National Health Authority, which is the supervisory and inspection body for the system. Furthermore, workers must be able to freely choose the EPS under which they wish to be insured.

The Committee notes that the Government's latest report only contains general comments on the new health system. In these conditions, it once again requests the Government to supply detailed information on the impact of the new legislation on each of the Articles of the Convention.

With particular reference to Article 2 of the Convention, the Committee has been drawing the Government's attention for a number of years to the need to extend the application of the legislation giving effect to the Convention to the whole of the national territory. In its latest report, the Government states that the objective of the health branch of the general social security system established by Act No. 100 of 1993 is to enable all residents on the national territory to have access to the Compulsory Health Plan by the year 2001. In these conditions, the Committee would be grateful if the Government would provide statistical information on the coverage in practice of the general social security system in the field of health care as regards the contributory scheme and if it would indicate in particular the percentage of workers covered by the Convention who benefit from the POS in the context of the contributory scheme in relation to the total number of such workers.