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Perfil

ECONOMY | 17-02-2019 19:22

Private health cover providers authorised to offer partial plans

Healthcare costs in Argentina rose 51 percent in the last 12 months, with many customers struggling to keep up with the rising prices of their plans. 

Private health cover providers in Argentina are set to launch a slate of new products in the coming months aimed at lowering costs and offering simpler coverage options to customers.

The move comes after a presidential decree allowed providers to "authorise new plans for partial coverage". These can now include co-payment options for treatments such as physiotherapy and dentistry.

"The partial plans are, for us, a huge opportunity", market leader OSDE told Perfil.

"We are working on creating hospitalisation plans with or without copayment, and plans for ambulance and pharmacy services with or without copayments, among others", representatives from SwissMedical said.

For its part, Galeno reported that it was "currently evaluating" the decree.

RISING COSTS

Healthcare costs in Argentina rose 51 percent in the last 12 months, according to official inflation data from the INDEC statistic bureau, with many clients struggling to keep up with the rising price tage on their respective plans. 

A standard family in Argentina composed of 40-year-old parents and children between four and six-years-of-age can pay anywhere from $13,000 to $20,000  (US$ 337-518) per month for a popular plan, according to the price comparison website Elegimejor.net.

Six million Argentines have private health cover. Four and half million of those receive their coverage as part of their employment.

-TIMES/PERFIL

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