San Juan, Puerto Rico — The Centro de Periodismo Investigativo (CPI) filed a lawsuit Monday against the Puerto Rico Health Insurance Administration (ASES, in Spanish), seeking a court order requiring the agency to disclose how many people are covered by the Vital Plan, Puerto Rico’s government health insurance plan, because of financial need, catastrophic illnesses, special coverage and cancer coverage, as well as the annual cost to the public treasury.
Before going to the San Juan Superior Court, the CPI journalist Jeniffer Wiscovitch Padilla asked the agency for data broken down for the past 10 years through the present. Two months ago, she sent her information request, as required by the Transparency and Expedited Procedure Act for Access to Public Information, to ASES Executive Director Carlos Santiago, press officer Ramón Alejandro Pabón and the agency’s public information officers.
“This case, and others we have taken to court this year, show that the underlying problem with the lack of public information is the agencies’ unwillingness to meet the deadlines. Even with twice as many days since the Transparency Act was amended under this administration, they still fail to comply. It’s not that they can’t comply; it’s that they don’t want to,” the CPI Executive Director Carla Minet said.
Although the journalist followed up with the agency by email, neither ASES nor its officials have provided the requested information.
“In addition to delaying our investigation, this is another example of the government’s lack of transparency and an attempt to wear journalists down so that we give up requesting public information to which we are entitled,” Wiscovitch Padilla said. “This information is essential to know, among other things, how much the Vital Plan spends to cover the needs of patients with catastrophic illnesses, including cancer, and patients who enroll in the plan because they cannot afford their medical treatments,” the journalist added.
The legal action came after CPI exhausted all administrative remedies, complied with the requirements of the law and still did not receive the data.
“The requested information is generated, maintained or received by ASES in the course of its public functions related to the administration of the Puerto Rico Government Health Plan (Vital Plan),” the lawsuit states. “Therefore, it is public information, which anyone may access or obtain a copy of upon request.”
The petition for a writ of mandamus was filed by attorneys Luis José Torres Asencio and Steven P. Lausell Recurt, as well as students Melany Ortiz Rolón and Daniela Talavera Pagán of the Access to Information Project at the Inter American University of Puerto Rico Law School.
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