The financial statements of the New EPSthe largest in the country, with a cut December 31, 2024 —the first disclosed since the National Health Superintendence took office of the entity—make it evident that the resources that you received for health insurance were not enough to cover the costs of caring for their more than 11.5 million members.
The intervention was ordered by the outgoing government of President Gustavo Petro on April 3, 2024when it became in the hands of the National Health Superintendency.
According to the document, dated July 6, during that year, The EPS recorded operational income of 22.2 billion pesos, which came, for the most part, from the administration of the social security health regime, which has the Capitation Payment Unit (UPC) as its central source. —the value that the system transfers to each provider entity per member to cover the Health Benefits Plan. The cost of providing health services was 26.4 billion pesos.
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The difference between these two items shows a gross loss of 4.2 billion of pesos that, after deducting all financial expenses and income, led to the loss of exercise of 4.8 billion of pesos —term used when expenses and costs exceeded income.
That is to say that for every peso that entered through the insurance, The entity spent more on the care of affiliates. Although revenue grew 18 percent compared to 2023, It was not enough and the accounts did not reach a balance.
In other words, the insurance resources were not enough to cover the care for the year or to settle the historical debts that had not been included in the accounting.
It should be noted that on April 20, 2026, the Minister of Health, Guillermo Alfonso Jaramillo, stated in a press conference that “The problem is not the lack of resources, but how they are being used”. According to the technical study presented that day, The UPC grew 21 billion in the last four years.
The financial statements known this Wednesday were certified by the current auditor Jorge Iván Ospina, former mayor of Cali, and the accountant, Sandra Patricia Perdomo Salas, who stated that they would not hold office during 2024. They joined the entity on April 13 and March 1, 2026, respectively.
Affiliates and debts increased
At the closing of 2024the New EPS record 11,548,495 affiliated users, 5.88 percent more of which there were in 2023, which closed the year with 10,907,231 affiliates. Between one year and another, the net increase was 641,264 people.
Of those, 4,983,288 belong to the contributory regime and 6,565,207 to the subsidized regime. The entity, then, added more members while finances continued to deteriorate, which represented greater spending on health.
The financial statements show how this affected their assets. By 2024, a reported negative equity of 11.9 billion of pesoscompared to the also negative 7.1 trillion in 2023 – a figure that was restated after corrections of the entity’s accounting errors -, vastly exceeding the assets. In other words, the debts exceeded everything he owned.
The equity gap was 4.8 billion pesos in a single year.
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According to the New EPS, this drop would have been due to the registration in the accounts of the entire billing that providers —which include hospitals, clinics and pharmaceutical managers—, had filed him, but that was not accounted for in previous periods. When those were recognized debts that were dammed in 2023 and 2024, the liabilities were triggered and the assets decreased.
The results of the past accounts went from a negative balance of 542,075 million pesos in 2023 to one of 7.6 trillion pesos at the end of 2024a deterioration of more than seven billion in a single year. The administration warned that this situation “evidences the need to continue strengthening the strategies of accounting sustainability, control of health spendingoptimization of operational processes and improvement of risk management mechanisms”.
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Regarding the total liabilitiesthis came to 22.5 billion pesosa 86 percent increase compared to 2023. According to the entity, the reason would be the technical reserves —the money that the EPS must set aside to pay for services already provided but not yet settled—, which passed from 11.5 to 21.8 billion pesos (a 90 percent increase).
The Assets also increased and went from 5 to 10.6 billion pesos. However, this growth does not represent greater liquidity or soliditybut accounts that have not yet been collected and that represent the 89.5 percent of total assets. Of those, 91 percent correspond to advances and advances.
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Limitations and without tax review opinion
The New EPS admitted he “failure to comply with fundamental principles of Accrual (Causation) and Association of Income and Expenses” and described structural limitations that affect “the timeliness, integrity and reasonableness” of financial information.
Among them, it was recognized that the “available accounting information presents limitations in fully reflecting the economic and financial reality of some service providers.”
They also pointed out damming in the audit and settlement processes of dammed invoices. And they also emphasized that “historically the entity has not had a comprehensive and updated record of all billing.”
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Added to this is that the tax auditor, Gladys Asprilla Coronadomade it clear in a letter addressed to Jorge Iván Ospina, current auditor, that it was not possible to issue an opinion. According to the official, the Final financial statements were delivered on the same day they were published.which prevented it from completing the audit procedures required by the International Information Assurance Standards (IFRS).
SABRINA BASTIDAS IGUARAN
DATA UNIT
