Today we visited Austral University and its private hospital . We were guided by a graduate from the university, who showed us around campus and brought us to the hospital where an health professional showed us the emergency room, admissions area and the pediatric offices. Austral is a private hospital, meaning its fundings to operate come directly from private insurance, union funding or out of pocket. The unions negotiate prices with private hospitals like Austral to provide care for their constituents rather than set up their own clinics to take care of them themselves.

A big problem in private healthcare is the amount of professionals to work at their facilities. While the country has a lot of nurses, many are not certified/have a degree in healthcare. Compared to the United States, the workers are less educated, less specialized and unprepared to facilitate a proper hospital. Because of the heterogeneity in the education of healthcare professionals, the medical system in Argentina is fractured, with workers unprepared to work in different conditions like a private hospital. Places like Austral try to alleviate this situation by educating students themselves to prepare them for their own hospital, providing them with workers prepared for the private system. At the moment, nearly two thirds of the people at the hospital have a certification from any university, which is still lacking compared to the United States. Austral is a relatively new university (only 34 years old), meaning it will continue to improve the education of its students.

Some hospitals in Argentina are for-profit, however, since Austral hospital is connected to their university, it gives them financial stability, allowing them to pursue their mission to help the sick. While Austral charges enough to keep the hospital running, it is not focused on profit maximizing, ensuring fair prices for the consumer.