Choosing health care for newcomers

[Tomas Banks]

Having lived here most of my life, I've come to the conclusion that no one really likes their prepaid health coverage that much. However, now as a work responsibility I need to find coverage for a family of five (parents 40 years old, three children 16, 11, and 9 years) and a single man (age 33) due to arrive in September or so for a year. I've considered the British Hospital, Accord, Osde, Medicus, Swiss Medical, Fe Médica-- and am just wondering if there is any one factor to take into consideration that would make the choice easier? Other than expense of course.

 

[antipodean]

For me it is important to have a wide choice in health care providers and not get "locked in" to any one clinic or hospital.
I use OSDE and plans are very modular and comprehensive. They also include cover in all neighboring countries, which is good if regional travel is required. If you go for the 550 plan you even get free cosmetic surgery once a year to top it all off.

If you have a company, OSDE will generally assign you an executive that all your members can go through which makes things easier. If I recall correctly, my one offered to speak English and also offered to give me the informational material and contracts in English. We ended up just doing it all in Spanish so I could not gauge the level of English language support available, but it seems to be available.

 

[Wryter47]

I've been here nearly 15 years and had ODSE the whole time for me and for my Argentine
wife. I've had two moderately important surgeries and several key visits to clinics and
physicians, and have found the system to be quite comprehensive. I can recommend it.

 

[on the brink]

I second that - with OSDE you get to choose hospitals.

 

[FrankPintor]

Our experience is that once you make contact with any of these insurance companies you will be bombarded incessantly with phone calls, WhatsApp’s, and emails. Then, once you do decide to go with one of them and sign up, the sales executives will drop you like a hot potato with the documentation half complete so that they can move onto the next victim. Exactly this happened to us with Prevención Salud (Sancor) and OSDE. Prevención Salud was totally useless, not accepted by any pharmacies close to us, their “call a doctor” application never connected to a doctor, and when we decided to stop using them they refused to accept our termination request. We’re now with OSDE, it’s somewhat better in that it’s at least accepted by the clinic and pharmacies we used. One thing that works perfectly with these companies is their billing, expect to be charged and overcharged while they sort out the details of your monthly quota. If anyone in your family will work on an Argentinian contract, a deduction is automatically made for health insurance (obra social”) and it’s possible to direct these payments to the insurance of your choice, leaving you in theory to pay only a top up for the policy. This requires a notarised declaration, which OSDE can do at some of its offices, but they can take over 6 months to process it and in the meantime they will charge you the full amount. Be aware also that once you go this route you’re locked into the insurance for a year (the sales people won’t tell you this of course).

 

[Ceviche]

Osde is very good. Using them for 8 years. I rate them 10/10.

plan 310i is the middle plan, which i have and is adequate

 

[gracielle]

Osde is very good. Using them for 8 years. I rate them 10/10.

plan 310i is the middle plan, which i have and is adequate

And the OSDE 401 plan and above include coverage of cosmetic and reconstructive plastic surgery procedures.

 

[Ceviche]

And the OSDE 401 plan and above include coverage of cosmetic and reconstructive plastic surgery procedures.

Not sure how much is the difference in rates of 310 and 410. But in 2019, plan 310 seemed v v expensive .

 

[gracielle]

Not sure how much is the difference in rates of 310 and 410. But in 2019, plan 310 seemed v v expensive .

In 2018 three of my local family members upgraded from the 301 to the 401 plan. Said upgrade must be maintained for 12 consecutive months. They had cosmetic surgical procedures done in 2019. And at the end of their 12-month periods, all switched their coverages back to the 310 plan. The rate difference between plans for 12 months was well worth it to them.

 

[cafeamericano]

I can also recommend OSDE. I'm happy with it. I particularly like being able to get a house call from the OSDE doctors. Though I think that is on hold during the pandemic. Otherwise every doctor I have wanted to visit accepts it (I have the 310 plan). My wife has it as well and has a doctor she likes at hospital italiano (she paid out of pocket when we first arrived for her first appointment there) and OSDE covers her appointments there. So as people say flexibility is nice.