Today we visited another amazing world class private hospital and a not so world class public hospital. And in doing so the differences between the two hospitals were very obvious. This brings into question how extreme is Argentinas social gradient and how does it compare to that in the United States. As it relates to healthcare of course!

To start, there are some similarities that are actually very obvious. In both countries the more money you have the better care you get. This is definitely more extreme in Argentina but is still applicable to the United States. Another similarity is the urban vs rural healthcare centers. In the US you would be fine going to an urgent care in a small town but it would be nothing like going to a hospital in NYC. The same concept can be applied for Argentina, a small rural clinic has nothing on some of these big city hospitals public or private.

There are also some major differences in the social gradients of the two countries as it relates to healthcare. For starters in the United States there is no free universal healthcare, if you go to the ER they will treat you but it won’t be covered and will cost you without insurance. In Argentina this ER visit would be free even if you didn’t have health insurance. This brings up the fundamental social gradient difference in the way the two counties approach healthcare. The US has an only private system with high quality and costs and a more extreme social gradient. While Argentina has 3 systems in one with public, private, and unions giving more access but worse quality in the public system.

Noah Hillis