20.06.2023
Healthcare in Argentina
Argentina has great healthcare, and it's available to everyone (even tourists) — both paid and free. Let me tell you about the quirks.
🚑 Friends who compare the paid healthcare here to the US say the quality and the conditions are the same, but the prices are several times lower. I've got nothing to compare it against, but I like my own experience: the doctors go by evidence-based protocols, modern equipment, and everything is very to the point. 🚑 Remember the post about money? If you want to schedule something a month ahead in the paid system, they'll most likely hand you a contract with a floating price: the peso's going to drop by then, so we'll just recalculate on the day of your appointment! Bugs you at first, then you get used to it. 🚑 There are a few stories in Argentina about russian citizens who didn't pay for services and just walked off, so they might ask you to leave a deposit for any major treatment. The most annoying part is that it's in pesos — and if it turns out you don't need it, you have no idea why you're stuck holding that much cash. But there are plenty of hospitals, you can always find one with no deposit.
The free system is staffed by the very same doctors as the paid one. Meaning they'll treat you just as well without any money. So what's the difference? 🚑 First, the free system is slower: you can wait a couple of months for a routine appointment. 🚑 Second, in the free hospitals you don't have an assigned doctor, you get a random one, which means there's no guarantee they speak English — you'll need an interpreter. An interpreter costs almost as much as a paid appointment, so in cases like that it seems more logical to me to just pay the doctor + nothing gets lost in translation. 🚑 Third, the free hospitals are free all the way through. Meaning you can't, say, pay extra for a private room. Or for your preferred treatment option, if it's more complicated than the basic protocol (an epidural during childbirth, for instance). If you want customization — that's what the paid doctors are for. 🚑 And well, the free hospitals look like a provincial clinic in the ussr. Not the most important point imho. But the fact that they exist gives me a sense of safety: it's great that in case of an emergency there are places where they'll definitely patch you up.
My personal experience is this: I go to paid doctors, because it's faster and I'm sure I'll get to speak English and be understood. Plus, right next to my favorite clinic they've got the best éclairs in town.
My Spanish is still only enough for something simple like the dentist, but even there I've got a story: I booked a Spanish-speaking dentist on purpose so I wouldn't have to listen to how badly I brush my teeth, but it turned out the nurse spoke perfect Russian and I had to listen anyway🙈🙈🙈
Want me to tell you about something else? 🤣6