Anyone who really, really understands the health insurance system?

[hankscott]

Yes and with Medicare Advantage no supplemental plan is necessary. But honestly I think $558 is not outrageous considering your age. Most plans won't even consider Seniors. This is just a reality. You should take it while it's available.

I think I'd be better off risking my savings if I do end up with a life-threatening illness than paying that much money every month and reducing my spending on things that make me happy.

 

[Silvie]

Age has always been a primary factor for obtaining health insurance. The health care you may obtain nowadays with "obras sociales" through work or monotributo are of very poor quality in general; I would advise you against them if you can avoid it.

 

[elhombresinnombre]

The public system is crowded and not very nice, but if you are patient and willing to put up with wait times, etc is available.

I think you might be surprised at how far downhill other counties public healthcare systems have slipped - especially since the pandemic. Twenty years ago I would have said that the UK NHS was working better than public healthcare in Buenos Aires but not any more. Guardia/A+E are still about the same but I think that public health care staff and equipment and waiting times are now better here than I've experienced recently in the UK. I'm hearing similar stories from those people I know in Australia and I'd be interested to hear how Mr Scott rates the public health care in the part of the States he is familiar with. Buenos Aires really isn't so bad.

PS I know public health care can be a lot worse further from the capital but it's Buenos Aires we are interested in right now.

 

[nikad]

The age cut for what they consider " seniors " is 62 years. I think that an individual plan that gives you good coverage and a decent selection of hospitals would start at 400000 pesos monthly ( with no pre existing conditions ). I think the times of very cheap private insurance are gone. The whole system has suffered during and after the pandemic, and with raging inflation even the most expensive plans are not what they used to be. When everything else fails and in case of emergency, the public hospital is always there.

 

[steveinbsas]

PS I know public health care can be a lot worse further from the capital but it's Buenos Aires we are interested in right now.

i realize that most of those following this thread are interested in knowing most about private health care in Capital Federal, but, at least in my experience, public health care out here in Buenos Aires has been superior, even to the prepagas I had in Capital from 2006-2010.

Here's one example:

At one point during the pandemic, in late 2020, I thought I detected a mass when poking my abdomen while I was in bed one Sunday evening. I had recently lost a lot of weight "without really trying" and I was somewhat concerned. I sent a note expressing my concerns to a Facebook friend who is also a surgeon in Punta.Alta.

He replied in less than an hour and told me to meet him at the public hospital before 8 am on Tuesday morning. He had.surgery scheduled for 8 o'clock. We entered an exam room and he gently probed my abdomen as I explained how I had been on a KETO "diet plan" for several months and only realized the "extent" of my weight loss on Sunday night when I discovered that a pair of jeans that I had not tried on for several months now fit like clown pants

He told me that he didn't feel anything unusual in my abdomen but he wanted me to have an MRI in Bahía Blanca and to wait for the head nurse to call the hospital there to make the turno for Thursday. I was not alarmed until she handed me the order for the MRI on which the doctor had written the word URGENTE in caps and circled it muliple times. That added a bit of tension into my life for the kext eight days.

The following Wednesday I received (picked up) the results of the MRI and sent a photo of the report to the doctor via whatsapp. I received his congratulations and reassurances within the hour.

I know that nothing l8ke this would be likely to happen in Capital to any expat, including me. The doctor and I are friends on Facebook, but I have only seen him once outside the hospital in the ten years since we first met, and that was when he was getting into his car which was parked near mine in the street behind the hospitaI.

I hope my story has been entertaining. Telling it was the best way I could think of to demonstrate how good the public system can be and how much the heath care professionals here genuinely care. Of course the doctor works in other locations, including his.own consultorio, but I only know.him through our encounters at the public hospital, the first being a subcutaneous infectíon which was in the middle of.my back. It began with an emergency room visit followed by two minor surgeries, both of which he performed.

 

[GMan_27]

Public healthcare in the smaller cities seems to be superior to public healthcare in CABA for the most part. Obviously in the smaller publitos you might have a tough time but I think any place with a few hundred thousand people might get you better wait times and better care than some of the hospitals in CABA. I would not risk public healthcare in CABA but if thats your only option then thats the option.

 

[studiodio]

i live in a small town in cordoba. i also found the public health system to be great. in the past i paid for private health coverage, but have used public health for several years....my husband had multiple health issues, and was taken to public hospital twice. each time receiving excellent care. the walls of the hospital may need a new coat of paint but all the equipment and testing was top notch. hospital staff let me stay with my husband and fed me....i made several attempts to donate money to the hospital but they always refused. i dont know what Milie has planned for public health system, but so far public system gets my vote.