Day 6 we started with a lecture taught by the deputy minister of health in Caba, Dr. Daniel Ferrante. He spoke about the history of the healthcare system and the public sector. He educated us on the nuclear groups of the provinces which divide the care having each a region to provide for. Each region assigned responsibility for providing healthcare services within its area. This regional structure plays an essential role in ensuring more equitable distribution and management of healthcare resources across the country. After, we listened to a presentation about the national social security system and its distortions, presented by Dr. Gabriel Leverstein, the current director of the Obra Social. As the head of the largest union in Argentina, he spoke about union structures and how they function. He explained that unions collect money from both workers’ salaries and employers through a system managed by the federal government. People can switch unions, for example, a union with a wealthier group of employees may attract more members due to its resources and influence. However, when a low-income individual joins, the union often provides little support, since it receives very little in return. We then had our final presentation held by Dr. Luis Gimenez who spoke to us about the national ministry of health in Argentina. He gave us insight about the general ideas about the ministries in what role do they play as well as problems and their solutions.
PMO and Its Effects on Leaders of Obras Sociales:
PMO is a service/list of health services that enforces all insurance companies to abide by and are required to cover. Insurance companies such as the Obras Sociales and HMOs follow these set of rules. PMO has a minimum level of care but no maximum which creates problems for these insurance companies as many take advantage. For example, treatments like Ozempic and plastic surgery can get added to the PMO in which health insurance companies are required to cover these expensive treatments. This can lead to costs increasing at a high rate and insurance companies like the Obras Sociales start to lose money and eventually run out. In addition, politician use the PMO to gain favors as they promote expensive treatments like Ozempic to gain more support from people like the unions, or even pharmaceutical companies. However, this adds even more strain on the Obras Sociales.
