Argentina ends free healthcare for foreigners. What changes?

Argentina is no longer providing free healthcare for all its foreign visitors and residents. This means that only foreign nationals who have been granted permanent residency papers or Argentine citizenship will continue to receive medical attention free of charge in hospitals managed by the national government. Non-permanent residents or those without citizenship will be billed directly or, if they have insurance, hospitals will charge their insurance company for the provided services. Until now, granting universal basic services, including free healthcare, for all people regardless of their origins or legal status was a historic tradition in Argentina. The measure does not apply to provincial or municipal medical institutions, although local governments can decide to follow suit. Some provinces had already established similar measures, although the requirements are not necessarily the same. Medical attention is not free for foreigners in Buenos Aires City, Salta, Mendoza, Santa Cruz and Jujuy. Here’s what you need to know. Who does the measure apply to? Whether you will start being charged or asked for insurance in public hospitals will depend on your situation while staying in Argentina. Foreign tourists, as well as those with a temporary or transitory residency permit, will no longer receive free healthcare. Free-of-charge services will also be denied to foreign nationals with what is known as “precarious residency papers” (residencia precaria), which is provisional documentation granted to newcomers while they await for their residency papers’ request and legal situation to be resolved by migration authorities. You may also be interested in: Do you still need a SUBE card to move around Buenos Aires? What hospitals are implementing the new measure? The decision is only in force for national hospitals or institutions managed by the national state — they generally include the words “Hospital Nacional” in their name. There are 10 scattered across the country: Hospital Nacional. Prof. Alejandro Posadas (El Palomar), Hospital Nacional y Comunidad Dr. Ramón Carrillo (Luján), Hospital Nacional Dr. Baldomero Sommer (Gral. Rodríguez), Hospital Nacional en Red Lic. Laura Bonaparte (Buenos Aires City), INAREPS (Mar del Plata), Hospital de Pediatría Garrahan (Buenos Aires City), Hospital de Alta Complejidad El Cruce (F. Varela), Hospital de Cuenca Alta (Cañuelas), Hospital del Bicentenario (E. Echeverría), and Hospital de Alta Complejidad El Calafate (Santa Cruz). Tourists visiting Buenos Aires or foreign residents without a DNI identification card — ergo, people without a permanent or temporary residency permit — also cannot receive free healthcare in public hospitals managed by the city government. You may also be interested in: Need to open up a bank account in Argentina without a DNI? Here’s how What happens if you are a foreigner and need to go to a public hospital? At national hospitals, foreigners with a permanent residency permit will be required to show their DNI card or documentation showing their permit is being processed. Tourists or residents without a permanent permit will be asked for valid health insurance documentation, which needs to cover services provided in Argentina. The hospital will then bill the costs to the insurance. If the insurance company does not cover the required services or only does so partially, the patient will have to pay for the total or for the portion that is not covered, respectively. If you don’t have insurance or the one you have cannot be used in Argentina, you will be asked to pay before receiving medical services. Each hospital will be in charge of establishing how to bill patients. Patients will be handed a receipt after completing the payment in cash or other methods. Medical staff will later ask for the receipt in order to provide their services. What happens if I have a medical emergency? If you are going through a medical emergency implying a certain and imminent life risk, you will not be billed. The new regulation establishes that medical attention cannot be denied nor delayed for patients in such a situation. This exception applies to the assessment, stabilization and immediate treatment of patients undergoing health events needing urgent care such as heart attacks, respiratory obstructions, cardiac arrest, strokes, massive hemorrhage, extensive burning, obstetric or pediatric emergencies, and others. Expenses created after treating the initial emergency will still be billed to the patient or to their health insurance. In Buenos Aires City, foreigners — including tourists and those without residency papers — are also excluded from paying if they receive care for a life-threatening emergency in local public hospitals.