Today, we visited University of Astral’s downtown campus. We had a few lectures about important topics mainly relating to insurance and private companies. First, we had someone from OMINT. OMINT is a private insurance company that has multiple clinics in certain neighborhoods of Buenos Aires. We talked about how OMINT provides services to its subscribers and how healthcare costs are rising with inflation. In the past, healthcare inflation has stayed below the national inflation rate. However, this is no longer the case. The government of Argentina does not allow to raise insurance prices by more than the national inflation rate. Medical costs have increased by even more, causing insurance companies to have to bear the costs.

Later, we met with executives from a Non-Government Organization that assist in filling the gaps that the public health systems cannot help. The organization, AMTENA, goes to rural areas of Argentina and provides checkups, emergency surgeries, and more to populations that would not usually receive this. The organization mainly works in Salta which has a very large native population. They shared stores about people they have helped and provided life changing surgeries. For example, one girl that was about 8 years old had a problem with her foot that went unfixed due to her not being born in a hospital. AMTENA went out there and preformed a surgery on her to fix it and 6 months later she was able to run like any other child. This is one of many heartwarming surgeries that they told us. They later told us how many volunteers make it possible for these stories to come true.

After this, we had lunch where I had essentially the Argentinian version of McDonalds. Mostaza had great burgers and one of the better fries I had during the trip. The restaurant even had two floors which was very interesting for a fast-food place. After lunch we had one more presentation for the day on how Astral Hospital combated the COVID-19 pandemic. They were able to build a standalone hospital in record time. This helped alleviate the pressure on the public hospitals that were extremely overcrowded and could not provide adequate care.

Something I found interesting while learning about Argentina’s healthcare system was the difference between prepaid insurance companies and Obras Sociales. At first, the two can seem similar since both provide healthcare coverage, but they actually work in pretty different ways. Obras Sociales are tied to labor unions and employment, meaning people get this coverage automatically through their jobs. Prepaid insurance companies, like OMINT, are private organizations that people choose to pay into on their own, either as their main source of coverage or as a supplement to what they already have. Prepaid insurance felt more flexible and driven by personal choice, while Obras Sociales felt more rooted in employment and the idea of supporting workers. Learning about both helped me see just how layered Argentina’s healthcare system really is.