This morning started with lecturers from the minister of health for the city of Buenos Aires in a government building. Not only was the talk education but the room itself was also. While hearing about the problems with estimating a population for a system that can serve anyone on earth, we were able to gaze upon a painting by the famous Benito Quinquela Martín. Tied in with our lecture on city health planning, I learned that while Buenos Aires is currently an autonomous city, before 1994 the city operated much like Washington D.C.

following our talk, we headed back to Universidad de Austral to speak with Dr. Gabriek Leverstein, the director of the Obra Social de Comercio, the largest union in Argentina. While in the US unions are known to help protect workers from unfair wages and conditions, Unions in Argentina take a more active role. In addition to fighting for workers’ wages, unions provide health insurance to 63% of Argentina’s population. He spoke of how anybody can join any union at a flat rate to receive benefits and coverage. Further, if part of a family, only one member would be in any given union to receive benefits for the family. If a family member were to get sick, then the rate would be paid for the sick member. Further, anyone can join a union for coverage and they cannot be turned away. This can be problematic for the unions as their spending per capita for insurance for members is much higher than members’ deductible. Yet still, they are required to cover basic health benefits per law and must cover the same medical expenses for all members. So, while union members must pay a small deductible of $13 they receive a wide spread of medical coverages including prescriptions, appointments, and surgeries. Because of this, unions provide a safety net for the people of Argentina as they provide a steady and reliable form of coverage insured by law. 

After learning all about the unions, we grabbed lunch before taking a bus tour of three of Buenos Aires’s neighborhoods. Here we were able to see the famous pink palace where Peron gave his famous speech from the pink palace over the Plaza de Mayo. Across from the plaza we were able to see the changing of the guard at the cathedral where Pope Francis was placed as archbishop of Buenos aires. A quick bus ride later, were were visiting market squares and bright colorful buildings by the port. Being in Argentina I took this time to purchase an Argentinan staple: a Messi Jersey. Despite only having a background in Italian, causing me to switch my gracias for grazies, I was determined to at least count out my change in Spanish, only to slip into French. It seems I may need to rely more on Google Translate than anticipated. With a camera roll full of beautiful views, I can definitely say, my second full day in Buenos Aires was a success