Today I went to a side campus of Universidad Austral and learned about the business part of healthcare. Our first speaker talked about how coverage and financial responsibility in the public system is 36%, social health is 48%, and private is 16%. There are 7.6 million people enrolled in prepaid healthcare and 159 institutions have prepaid healthcare. Also 16% of the population are covered by prepaid healthcare. They have a few companies like commercial, union health, upgraded plans, mutual benefit societies, and NGO. A few laws are kept in place like Base Law, Complementary Law, and the most important law is Disability. Medical inflation and country inflation rate also affect the increase in cost; there was a 211% inflation rate in 2023. Their biggest challenges are breadth of coverage and no coverage limit. After the first presentation we listened to AMTENA that had 1678 surgeries and a .1% mortality rate. I liked that they made community gardens for post-surgery people to help them continue a healthy journey. They also mentioned that every $1 they put in, $10 gets put into the community. Their total investment for 2026 was $183,591 to help continue their goals. They receive a lot of volunteers to help patients; they even said they get too many volunteers and have to turn some away. After lunch, we talked to a nurse and a businesswomen about Austral Solidarity Hospital during covid We first had a workshop where each group came up with our own plan for how to run the Austral Hospital during covid. They said our solutions weren’t too far off from what they actually did during covid. However, I was shocked they only had 18 ICU beds for 500,000 people. 

Furthermore, one similarity between prepaid insurance companies and obras sociales in Argentina is their role in providing healthcare coverage. Both models offer financial protection and access to healthcare services, albeit through different structures. A significant difference lies in their funding and governance: prepaid insurance companies rely on member premiums, while obras sociales are often subsidized by their parent organizations and have more variable governance structures. Obras sociales also tend to have a stronger social welfare focus, whereas prepaid insurance companies prioritize profit and sustainability. Overall, today was a fun day to learn about the business side of how to run a hospital!