Today was our sixth day in Buenos Aires! We began the day by meeting with Dr. Daniel Ferrante, the current Deputy Minister of Health for the City of Buenos Aires (CABA). He explained that although Buenos Aires functions like a province, it technically is not one which creates administrative challenges. One key issue he highlighted is that while approximately 3 million people live in Buenos Aires, many commute in and out daily especially for healthcare. Despite this large population, the ratio of hospital beds to actual need is unbalanced, with around 5,000 extra beds that remain unfilled.  However these bed cant be cut as healthcare is considered a right and since many of the hospitals that hold the extra beds are owned by unions, cutting them would lead to political controversy.

One important topic we learned about today was the PMO, or Programa Médico Obligatorio. The PMO outlines health services that are legally required to be covered under the Obras Sociales—a system similar to the minimum essential benefits under U.S. health insurance. Politicians often use the PMO to gain public favor by adding new services to it as part of their political agenda. A recent example of this is the inclusion of Ozempic.

While the PMO can benefit the public by expanding access to healthcare, it can also put financial strain on the Obras Sociales, especially the smaller ones. The PMO guarantees a minimum base of care that everyone can receive so that no one gets left behind. But although there is a guaranteed minimum, there is no maximum as Obras Sociales can choose to provide services over that minimum. This puts smaller Obras Sociales at a disadvantage because they can’t offer those extra services and since what can be charged is capped based on income, if a lower-income individual uses a PMO-covered service, the union or insurance provider must cover the remaining cost and since their members have a lower income, they sometimes barely or can’t cover the remaining charge. This becomes especially challenging for public sector providers or smaller unions with a higher proportion of low-income members, as they can quickly run out of resources trying to keep up with the mandated coverage.

The final activity of the day was going to the Museo Etnografico guided tour where we learned about Argentina’s history and saw many artifacts! Today was educational in many interesting topics. Until tomorrow!