Emergencies abroad: More and more Argentines are paying dearly for their ingenuity

By NICOLÁS MALDONADO

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Either by saving the cost of traveler insurance, either because our public health system takes care of foreigners for free and many people think that the rest of the world is the same, more and more Argentinian tourists are discovering dramatically the high cost of having a medical emergency abroad. The situation became evident again this week when the case of Mercedes Albinatti, a retired woman from Buenos Aires who suffered a stroke while on vacation in Thailand, now owes $ 70,000 for uninsured hospital expenses.

Although the woman and her husband took out travel insurance, which was in turn insufficient, tourism agencies recognize that Argentines tend to underestimate the economic impact of the need for medical care outside the country. High percentage chooses to record care coverage. But they also point out that the phenomenon is badociated with the growth of the sale of airline tickets online, which leads many people to travel without having enough information.

In any case, they are certainly not isolated episodes. Last week, a story similar to that of the retiree who now claims to return to his country by a medical plane had already been revealed to the media. After suffering a heart attack while vacationing in Chile and receiving a stent, a Tucuman architect discovered that, for lack of insurance, he had accumulated an account of 650,000 pesos for hospitalization expenses.

His case – which was added to the list of previous weeks by a judge in Bolivia – highlights another factor that seems to be contributing to this kind of inconvenience: the lack of international agreements of reciprocity, so that Argentineans medical care in neighboring countries receive treatment similar to that offered to the citizens of our country.

Treatment "unfair and inhuman"

Manuel Vilca said the first thing he thought after a road accident in Bolivia last December was that he had no money to cover his hospitalization costs. . He was lying on the sidewalk of a road in Oruro, with several lumbar vertebrae fractured, but what seemed to worry the most, was that the Bolivian health care system was not as generous with strangers as ours and that he had not taken out health insurance. enter

Musician for ten years and musician who comes and goes between Argentina and Bolivia for his work, Vilca saw his fears become confirmed when he received a bill of $ 7,000 a week later, while He had been treated in the public health system. His family, who could not pay this debt, then launched a public campaign in search of financial help that eventually aroused great indignation in Jujuy.

When he made the case public, the Jujuy government helped the musician's family cover part of the hospitalization expenses, sent him a medical plane and vigorously defended against the Bolivian authorities, which has resulted in both diplomatic friction and in-depth reform. legal

In an official letter to the Bolivian Ministry of Health, Governor Gerardo Morales complained of the "unfair and inhuman treatment" suffered by Argentines who needed medical care in that country. And after publicizing the invoice received by Vilca, which included a portion of the cost of toilet paper, announced its decision to charge Bolivians who are served in hospitals in Jujuy, thus establishing a national debate on the reciprocal agreement. health issues with neighboring countries.

Looking for agreements

"The reality is that everywhere in the world, if you are a foreigner, they charge you, even in countries with universal coverage or more progressive systems.There is no free health. The fact that in the public system the patient does not pay directly out of his pocket does not mean that it is free.We pay all this with our taxes, contributions and contributions to social security.That's why he is good that we think about how we are funding health services. "In the case of non-resident aliens, whether it's about tariffs or not," said the secretary of health of the Nation, Adolfo Rubinstein, a few days ago.

Rubinstein went to talk about the issue after the Jujuy government sanctioned a law aimed at increasing the rate of medical care for non-resident aliens, and other provinces began to evaluate this possibility. "We must serve foreigners regardless of their condition, whether they are residents or not.What you need to decide, is if this care should remain free.And this, although it is the power of the province, is something that we should define at the national level.It would not be good if Jujuy did one thing, Comodoro Rivadavia another … it would be chaotic, "said Secretary of Health.

For the moment, our province seems to adhere to the criteria of the national government in this area. "Argentina has an absolutely supportive health system, everyone can have free access and that is the case, and then, for the system to be sustainable, it will be necessary to put in place mechanisms to recover costs by focusing on health systems and not the patient, "said Andrés Scarsi, provincial health minister.

The establishment of a reciprocal health agreement "at least in terms of emergency care" is "an issue we have been discussing with the Bolivian authorities since last year," acknowledged a few days ago. Spokesperson of the Ministry of Health who said: To advance in the negotiations, a meeting will be held tomorrow in the city of Santa Cruz.

AN "ESSENTIAL" INVESTMENT

The truth is that while international reciprocal agreements in this area are very valuable, they do not completely avoid the risk of having to deal with a very large number of people if medical care is needed abroad. In fact, the fact that Argentina has already concluded an agreement of this type with Chile (the only one strictly speaking) has not prevented Maximiliano Conca from receiving a bill of 650,000 pesos after being hospitalized two weeks ago.

Conca, a 40-year-old Tucuman architect who had a heart attack while vacationing in Viña del Mar, did what many would do in his situation: turn to the nearest health center, which is revealed to be the hospital's private naval clinic, where he was placed a stent, but also a bill that without medical insurance, can no longer pay. Therefore, tour operators insist on the need to outsource travel through agencies to be properly informed of the risks and always take out travel insurance beyond the demand of the destination country or not .

"We advise all customers to always hire one of the many companies that provide this service," he explains to the agency Akun Tourism. Insurances cost about $ 50, an investment that does not matter in the total cost of a trip and may be of paramount importance if you need it. And it is that the service not only covers medical care, but also offers advice on where to turn, which is essential when you do not know the country where it is located. The problem is that to reduce costs, many people outsource their trips online, which is why they do not get enough information. Many are not only unaware that health insurance may be essential, but they do not even know the health needs of the countries they will visit. "