When I learned that an attempt had been made to intimidate my sources because they spoke out about an issue I had investigated — one that directly affects hundreds of thousands of patients in Puerto Rico — I wondered: How could a company go to such lengths to prevent discussion of its financial condition?
My investigation into First Medical Health Plan, one of the insurers contracted by the Puerto Rico government to provide coverage through Plan Vital, the island’s government health insurance program, uncovered a troubling financial picture: widespread nonpayment to health care providers, an impact on patient services and government inaction on these issues. First Medical is also one of the primary health plans covering public employees and has a sizable base of privately insured patients. Altogether, the health plan provides coverage to about 420,000 patients in Puerto Rico.
After the investigation was published, several company leaders — including some of its owners — contacted experts quoted in the story to question and intimidate them.
The most direct and explicit harassment has targeted Jorge Galva, an attorney, health services administrator and former executive director of the Puerto Rico Health Insurance Administration, known by its Spanish acronym, ASES, under two New Progressive Party administrations. Galva received a letter from Andrés J. Colberg Trigo, an attorney for First Medical, after appearing on Centro de Periodismo Investigativo’s radio program “Agenda Propia.” During the interview, Galva said ASES should conduct an emergency intervention at First Medical “to determine the company’s true financial condition.”
In a clear attempt at intimidation, First Medical’s attorney accused him of making “a series of erroneous and inflammatory comments or opinions about the financial condition of our client and insurer, First Medical.” The company demanded that he “cease and desist from making such statements about First Medical’s financial condition,” even though Galva has firsthand knowledge of the matter and the company’s financial condition is documented in public records that First Medical itself submits to the Office of the Commissioner of Insurance. Health Secretary Víctor Ramos Otero even told Centro de Periodismo Investigativo in an interview that the company is facing “financial problems.”
To suggest that there are grounds for a defamation claim, First Medical’s attorney alleges that Galva’s statements “not only are contrary to the law but also are detrimental to First Medical’s financial condition.” The problem is that an essential element of a defamation claim is that the statements must be false, which is not the case here.
Galva responded to First Medical’s letter: “When I publicly stated that ‘First Medical needs to be placed under emergency intervention’ during my recent interview with Centro de Periodismo Investigativo, I did so with a deep understanding of the matter based on my professional practice, my familiarity with First Medical as a former ASES executive director, public information from numerous news outlets and the enforcement actions taken by the relevant government agencies.”
The letter from First Medical’s attorney is clearly intended to intimidate an expert in his field and pressure him to stop expressing his views and speaking about a subject he knows firsthand and has discussed directly with representatives of the company itself.
While conducting the investigation, I was struck by the response of some of the senior officials responsible for overseeing the company. Their primary duty should be to ensure that residents receive the best possible service from a health plan paid for by the government. Yet when I contacted them, they appeared more concerned with protecting the interests of a private corporation. ASES Executive Director Carlos Santiago Rosario, for example, previously worked for the Artau family, which owns First Medical, as executive director of Metro Pavía Health System. He could not explain to Centro de Periodismo Investigativo why the plan has failed to pay providers if it is supposed to maintain a reserve. Insurance Commissioner Suzette M. Del Valle Lecároz, meanwhile, avoided discussing with Centro de Periodismo Investigativo the finances of First Medical and Puerto Rico’s other health insurers.
Both officials have shown a troubling lack of transparency on this important matter, which leads me to ask: Whom does the government serve — a private company or the people? Residents have the right to know the true condition of a company to which they have entrusted their health and millions of dollars in public funds, as is the case with First Medical.
Galva is not the only person with industry knowledge asking why First Medical is failing to pay its providers if it has the reserves to do so. Others have asked me the same question, and I have been hearing it for a long time. It is a very good question — one that the company and the agencies responsible for overseeing health plans should answer.
Galva concludes that he is the one who may have a claim against First Medical over the “attempt at legal intimidation and frivolous lawsuit” with which the company has threatened him. He also argues that efforts to silence him violate his constitutional rights to freedom of expression and public participation.
Threatening journalistic sources when compelling evidence supports the reporting cannot be tolerated and must be denounced. Such acts threaten freedom of the press and freedom of expression and, as in this case, can also threaten the health and well-being of Puerto Rico’s residents. To be frank, this attempt to intimidate journalistic sources only strengthens my resolve to keep working, investigating and speaking about issues that may be uncomfortable for some but are vital to the public.
On Puerto Rico’s National Journalists’ Day, it is especially appropriate to denounce the pressure that companies attempt to exert on journalists and their sources.
This translation was generated with the assistance of AI and reviewed by our editorial team to ensure accuracy and clarity.
