Today we visited a children’s home/community care center. The center was run by nuns who were also trained in nursing. We toured their facilities and learned about what they provided for the community. We then met some of the children at the local school and played soccer with them. At the care center we met four students from Astral University, a local college in Argentina. They showed us around their campus and then we had empanadas and reflected on what we saw at the care center. After that we sat in for a lecture on the private sector part of the Argentinian healthcare system. We then toured the Astral Hospital, similar to UPMC at Pitt. We saw the pediatric ward and the bone marrow transport wing. Finally we went back to the university for a lecture on the insurance system for the hospital.
While the care center/children’s center was nice, income inequality still played a very significant role in how they actually delivered care. The center was funded by the municipality, the university, and the community. But, still with all this funding they still relied heavily on the volunteer service of local doctors. However, because of the high demand for the types of workers and the low pay, it resulted in them volunteering less and less.
Argentina has a mixed healthcare system composed of public hospitals, employer based insurance and private care. While this structure is initially intended to provide broad access, disparities in the income of citizens can significantly alter the quality of access. For the lower income public healthcare is the primary option. However, due to the underfunding of public facilities there are less resources to go around. As a result, even though care is universal, care is not always guaranteed. Middle and higher income individuals typically have better access to care through insurance. This way, they have better wait times and better access to specialists and more significant care. This means that income inequality directly translates to differences in healthcare. Those with higher incomes receive faster and higher quality healthcare. Additionally, economic instability can strain the healthcare system overall, further deepening the inequality.
