Today we visited a private hospital and a public hospital and compared the two. We first went to Sanatorio Mater Dei which is a private hospital and is one of the best hospitals in Buenos Aires.  It includes the entire neighborhood of Palermo and receives 60-70 surgeries a day. Insurance companies fund it so they are able to receive more money. The hospital was beautiful and clean; they had a gorgeous chapel for the patient’s family. It has 5 floors and 8 operating rooms. Some of their nurses are also nuns. I watched them interact with patients and it was a real connection there. Since they are nonprofit, their main goal isn’t luxury but it is to focus on quality of care and dignity. They have noticed less births and patients used to be around 60-65, but are now 80-85 years old. Afterwards we went to a public hospital called Hospital Fernandez. They are funded by the municipalities and have 850 beds. They also receive French funding which brings in $3400 a year. This hospital is not as nice as the private hospital since they don’t receive as much funds. A few years ago they struggled with a sewage flood. They have well known physicians that are known around the world; their most important specialties are dermatology and neurosurgery. They have a strong academic affiliation with the University of Buenos Aires; they have 123 nursing students. I noticed in the private hospitals we weren’t allowed in the ICU, but in the public hospitals we are. Hospital policies must be more strict in private since they receive more funding and want to keep it that way. Dr. Previgliano talked to us about his impressive work during COVID-19. They were able to increase staff units from 20 to 49 and increased beds from 29 to 109. They saw covid as a catalyst for structural transformation. In critical care, the mortality rate was 29%.  He also works to negotiate with the government for their budget. This hospital is still working on itself; they just got an ICU last year. After lunch, we visited Clinica Bazterrica which is a private clinic that is for-profit. This was also a very nice system and received funding from insurance companies. However, it was smaller and didn’t have oncology or transplants. The private hospital and clinic had much nicer rooms compared to the public hospitals that had shared rooms. Overall, public delivery systems are generally affordable but can be slower and less reliable, while private services offer faster, more convenient delivery at a higher cost.