Today we went back to Austral University for some more lectures. First we heard from Dra. Diana Farina about the public sector, followed by Dr. Ruben Torre who spoke about the national social security system in Argentina known as the Obras Sociales. Argentina has a clear federalist system pertaining to the organization of their healthcare system and financing, which is made clear by their distribution of power and delegation of tasks through the provincial, municipal, and national levels. This is what makes the Argentine healthcare system very diverse, however this federalism and distribution of power and finances is also what leaves many gaps in coverage. While the Ministry of Health oversees the general healthcare policies and their enforcement, as well as working on allocation of funding, there are still distinct powers granted to the provincial, municipal, and national levels. While national funding goes towards healthcare centers and initiatives like promoting sex education, vaccination, and maternal healthcare, it is supplemented by municipalities. This allows for multiple channels of accessing funding. In terms of social security, social security is provided nationally and provincially. On the national level, 50 million people are covered by the insurance, things like PMO’s. On the provincial level, PAMI supports 7 million Argentine retirees. Some unions work in conjunction with private insurance. This delegation of power to different levels provides checks and balances, but is also largely responsible for the fragmentation and segmentation present in the Argentine healthcare system, visible through the lack of continuity of care and integration of financial systems. PMO’s leave several people under covered, as the money coming from the employers and employees still leaves gaps in the obras socials system, roughly $30,000 uncovered. This is a key factor in the healthcare inflation system as well, and the number of self employed people increasing. Milei’s new law also pushes people towards this kind of anti-union system.
