In Argentina, there are many problems in the public healthcare system between hospitals and primary care due to their relationship. The hospitals are more accessible and trusted, causing patients to go to hospitals over primary care. These primary care facilities can’t really do anything about this because they do not have the funding. The country’s economic instability leads to wide spread layoffs among union workers. Since many people rely on their jobs for health insurance, losing their jobs leaves them without coverage. Therefore more people are relying on the public healthcare system. Many people tend to go to the emergency room for common colds and other illnesses that many in the United States would go to their primary care physician for. This causes an influx of non-emergency patients in the ER, so when a patient comes in with a serious emergency there is less resources available. Another problem is patients who are covered by private health insurance go into public hospitals. Even if they give their insurance card when checking in, there is no system in place that ensures these private insurance companies are paying for their clients visit. This is mostly due to a lack of data and resources. In the past, it was considered unacceptable for public hospitals to deny care to non-emergency patients who don’t live in local municipality. Now, they are moving towards rejecting patients so that the residents of the municipality can receive the care they pay for through taxes.

Hospital are expensive to run and many lack the resources and funding to be successful but are more favored in the communities due to lack of trust and accessibility. Argentina’s goal is to stop the population from being dependent on the hospitals and shift them to primary care. Not only will this free the hospitals up for emergency but it will contribute to a healthier community. The communities would be able to receive preventive care such as vaccinations, education and regular check- ups and screenings. Having more of an established preventive care system could lead to less illnesses and hopefully the need for less hospitalization. In order to do this, funding from the hospitals will have to be cut and given to primary care. This poses an issue in the political world since hospitals would be upset about losing patients and funding. Argentina has many complex problems in their public health system that people are working hard to fix.

– Madison