Argentina’s three main health care programs
The health care system in Argentina is divided into three main schemes: public health care, social security programs, and private health care. As of 2021, around ten percent of Argentinians were part of more than one scheme. In that year, nearly four in every ten beneficiaries were covered by public health care programs – which provide services to people that are not beneficiaries of any other type of health insurance. Social security plans, known as Obras Sociales, cover formal workers and their families and accounted for more than six in every ten health care beneficiaries. Private schemes, paid out of pocket, accounted for less than two in every ten people.Within social security programs, the national social security scheme was the most common, with over half of all security health care beneficiaries in Argentina. Meanwhile, around a quarter of the people insured were part of provincial social security programs, and close to 20 percent were covered by a national scheme conceived for retirees and pensioners.
Public opinion
According to an online survey carried out in 2022, public opinion of the health care system in Argentina is relatively positive when compared to a group of selected countries in Latin America, with 55 percent of respondents stating that the quality of the Argentinian healthcare system is either good or very good. In Colombia, Chile, and Mexico this figure was around 30 to 40 percent. According to the same study, around half of interviewees declared they trusted their country’s health care system to provide for the best health treatment. However, seven in every ten respondents pointed out that waiting times to get an appointment with doctors are too long. Additionally, eight in every ten believed that many people in Argentina cannot afford good health care.
