Sanitas: What's next for the health sector and other intervened health insurance companies after the Constitutional Court ruling?

The decision by the Constitutional Court's Plenary Chamber to revoke the administrative intervention imposed by the National Health Superintendency on EPS Sanitas sets an important precedent for the future of the sector, especially for other entities currently under intervention.

This is what several health sector experts and analysts told EL TIEMPO after learning of the Supreme Court's decision. They assert that when the Court overturned the rulings that intervened in Sanitas for violating due process, a new legal debate opened up about the responsibility the government, and in particular the Health Superintendency, should bear in what they claim is a deterioration of the health insurance companies.

This is what former Health Superintendent Conrado Gómez put it: “Since last year, the government began carrying out these interventions, it did so with a purpose that is inconsistent with the very nature of this position. It wasn't done temporarily to recover these entities, but rather to manage them. It's a very important change that will have a significant legal impact on the sector, as it opens the discussion about the legal responsibility this generates , for example, in the Health Superintendency. It's an issue that will have a significant impact on the other intervened EPSs, which will surely seek legal action; many have already done so.”

For the expert, what happens with the intervened EPSs is a poor execution of the intervention function: "In an intervention, the Superintendency doesn't administer; rather, it appoints an independent intervener to oversee them. But this subtle separation breaks down as these interventions are carried out over such a long period of time, inevitably resulting in political manipulation, without addressing the system's structural problems."

In fact, during a press conference this Friday, Juan David Riveros, Keralty's attorney, announced that the Spanish company will continue to pursue legal action, noting that Sanitas was "devastated" and suffered "moral, institutional, financial, and human damage."

"Let's demand that the judicial authorities assign individual responsibility to those responsible for what happened in this case and the impact that not only we as a company, but also our patients and customers have had to endure as a result of this situation," Riveros said.

He added: "We will not relent in our efforts to resort to judicial action when necessary. If there is contempt or other manifestations that potentially constitute criminal behavior, we will take legal action."

For her part, Natalia Jaimes , a lawyer specializing in labor and social security law, maintains that the decision also implies that the Government is beginning to exercise greater scrutiny over Sanitas' actions now that Keralty has regained control of this EPS: "The Court is giving it a new opportunity, but also a burden: to demonstrate that it can operate with commitment to the millions of users who depend on it."

Former Health Minister Augusto Galán Sarmiento said legal action is planned to determine whether the government will take responsibility for what Sanitas calls "a deterioration in indicators."

Recently, a report from the Así Vamos en Salud observatory revealed that Sanitas went from having positive equity of 21 billion pesos in the first quarter of 2024 to having negative equity of 1.1 trillion pesos in the same period of 2025 , representing a change of 5,702 percent.

The same report maintains that the EPSs under government intervention (not including Nueva EPS, which has not reported its indicators) have accumulated negative equity of 10 trillion pesos.

Researchers believe that EPSs that are not subject to intervention have greater financial balance, but despite the interventions, insurers continue to accumulate significant losses, given that their budget deficit was $5.7 trillion a year ago.

MATEO CHACÓN ORDUZ | Deputy Editor, Today's Life